CvSU operationalizes coffee revitalization project

Here is a piece of good news for coffee growers in the province of Cavite and the whole country.

The Cavite State University (CvSU) in Indang, Cavite, through its Coffee Research and Training Center, is ready to operationalize the Coffee Revitalization Project which will cover/service the province of Cavite and eventually the whole country.

The project was envisioned to improve and increase the yields of the participating coffee farmers through the introduction of new seedling varities and the requisite extensions services; and to break the existing trading system of cash advances for harvest commitments which has tied down the farmers to the "viajeros", in order to provide farmers with other marketing options and in the process help stabilize the market.

According to Dr. Alejandro C. Mojica, Sr., CvSU research director, "the project beneficiaries shall be the coffee growers and their families, from the increased yields of their farms; CvSU which will own and operate the nursery, from a strengthened research, development and extension program as the national center for coffee development; and the Philippine government, with the significantly better performance of the coffee industry, resulting in higher gross domestic product (GDP) contribution, and export dollar earnings."

The project will be implemented for seven years with total budgetary allocation amounting to P33, 526,165. The Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Competitiveness Enhancement Fund extended a collateral-and interest-free loan amounting to P14,986,426 and the remaining amount shall be shouldered by CvSU as its equity.

The loan will finance the activities under the project components: the mother clonal garden and seedling production – P4,221,436.00 and the coffee bean trading – P10,764,990.

ACEF was created by Congress through Republic Act No. 8178 also known as the Agricultural Tariffication Act, which consists of the in-quota tariffs collected from the importation of Minimum Access Volume of agricultural products. The DA facilities the use of the ACEF to finance projects that will help the agriculture and fisheries sectors to become globally competitive, viable, efficient and sustainable.