DA-ACEF-CvSU Coffee Project
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| Published on 18-06-2009 | Email To Friend Print Version
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The decline of coffee industry in the Philippines started when crops were plagued by "Coffee Rust" an infestation that almost wiped out the Philippine coffee industry that lead farmers to cut down coffee trees and shifted to other crops, mainly pineapple.by King Melex Austria
The decline of coffee industry in the Philippines
started when crops were plagued by "Coffee Rust" 
an infestation that almost wiped out the Philippine coffee industry that lead farmers to cut down coffee trees and shifted to other crops, mainly pineapple. For the longest time, coffee farming in Cavite was dying. Today, Cavite has only a handful of Barako trees and is in the brink of extinction. The recent world wide popularity of special brews and exotic blends of coffee gives a sliver of hope to the Philippine coffee industry. This new trend might be the breath of life that the Philippine coffee industry needs to savour once again the taste of Barako coffee's golden years.
It was only recently when the industry has started recovering with the initiatives of the local government and some private institutions. Thus, the “Coffee Revitalization Project” was conceptualized. The Department of Agriculture (DA), Agricultural Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (ACEF) and Cavite State University (CvSU) joined forces for this project which has two major components: Coffee Seedlings Production and Coffee Beans Trading.
The Coffee Seedling Production, through the setting up of a Mother Clonal Garden (MCG) where mother plant (clonal cuttings) are established and become source of high quality planting materials. The project aims to cater the demand for coffee seedlings in the province and the whole country. The project is being implemented at the National Coffee Research Development and Extension Center (NCRDEC) being managed by its Director, Dr. Alejandro C. Mojica. This supports the government & rsquo's goal on extensive replanting program to increase growing areas, improve and increase
yields through the introduction of new seedling varieties.
Coffee Beans Trading component is instituted to break the existing trading system of cash advances for harvest commitments which tied down the farmers to coffee traders, to provide farmers with other marketing options and in the process help stabilize the market. Cavite State University serves as the trading hub of dried coffee berries. Coffee beans are bought directly from the farmers at existing market prices and the university employs a state-of-the-art coffee milling and warehousing facilities to maintain high quality coffee beans.
In addition to this, the project adopted the coffee processing of AGUINALDO BLEND coffee, a product of the Research unit of the university way back in 2001. It is a combination of the four varieties of coffee namely: Robusta, Arabica, Excelsa and Liberica expertly blended to give consumers an excellent taste of brewed coffee. Coffee processing and marketing is being done by the Office of External and Business Affairs.
A budget allocation of P33.5M, 45% comes from ACEF in form of a loan, P4.1M of which had been released in 2005, and 55% comes from CvSU as its counterpart. The project is now on its third year of implementation and will run for 7 years.
To date, NCRDEC have already sold Barako seedlings to different clients from all over the country and planting materials are available at their coffee nursery. The project had bought more than 10 tons of dried coffee berries from Indang and nearby coffee producing towns in Cavite. Aguinaldo Blend coffee is always available for sale at the CvSU Marketing Center and seeking its way to the local market and now trying to make its own market niche in the national and international market. |
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