DA confident on growth of PHL’s coffee industry

AGRICULTURE Secretary Proceso Alcala is confident the country’s coffee industry will grow, dismissing reports it is headed downhill.
Speaking at a press conference on Monday at The Marco Polo Davao where the 2nd Philippine Investors’ Forum was held, Alcala said the coffee industry in the country is not heading downhill, considering the impressive performance of the industry, particularly in Mindanao.
Annual local demand for coffee beans is currently pegged at 64,000 metric tons (MT) valued at around P5 billion. However, actual yields is P34 MT, 80 percent of which is being purchased by Nestle Philippines.
SOCSKSARGEN (South Cotabato-Sultan Kudarat-Sarangani-General Santos City) and the Davao region are the Philippines’ top coffee producing regions based on Department of Agriculture (DA) records.
Edith de Leon, head of Corporate Affairs and senior vice president of Nestle Philippines, the biggest buyer of green coffee in the Philippines, said four of the top five coffee producers in the Philippines are in Sultan Kudarat and Davao Region, while the other is Cavite.
Alcala said with the volume of produce and the high demand for coffee, government together with the private sector like potential coffee investors and major markets like Nestle Philippines are currently aggressive in implementing the necessary interventions to improve the country’s current volume of coffee produce.
The decline of the coffee industry in Mindanao was perceived due to the shift of coffee farmers in Mindanao and SOCSKSARGEN to banana.
Alcala, however, said the result of production, although lower than the annual demand in Mindanao, is not an indicator that the coffee industry nosedived.
DA has projected a 5 percent growth rate in the coffee production in country by 2012 and beyond with the current interventions being made by government and the private sector.
The ambitious projection is based on the growth rate obtained from January to September, 2011 of -7 percent compared to the same period in 2010 of -2 percent.
Among the interventions being made by DA is making available about 1.3 million coffee planting materials for over 3,000 hectares of land by 2012.
Department of Environment and Natural Resources Undersecretary Marlo Mendoza said about 1.5 million hectares are projected to be planted to coffee by 2016 starting 2012 with sprawling nurseries being developed by the government and private sector.
He said aside from mobilizing coffee farmers in upland areas, state universities are also being tapped by government to develop coffee nurseries. With these interventions, about 20 new nurseries stand to be developed, Mendoza said.
Alcala also said the development of nurseries in preparation for the expansion projects for coffee production comes along with massive fertilization and improvement of post-harvest facilities.
“The government is doing its best to meet the coffee supply requirement,” he said, adding the holding of the 2nd Coffee Investors’ Forum is another form of intervention in which coffee stakeholders from government and the private sector gathered to discuss the potential and opportunities in coffee farming. The first forum was held in Makati City, Metro Manila last March.
According to Department of Agrarian Reform Undersecretary Jerry Pacturan, about 10,000 hectares of land belonging to Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries (ARBs) are currently planted with coffee. [PNA]