STAKEHOLDERS, both from the government and private sector, are coming up with a specific action plan for the development of coffee industry in Negros Occidental, based on the six-year national roadmap for the said commodity.
Lea Gonzales, provincial director of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in Negros Occidental, said there is already a Philippine Coffee Industry Roadmap for 2017 to 2022 prepared by their agency along with the Department of Agriculture (DA).
Gonzales, who spoke at the two-day Localization of the National Coffee Roadmap at Nature’s Village Resort in Talisay City said, starting yesterday, May 30, there is a need for an action plan specifically for the province following the localization of the roadmap in the regional level recently.
“Stakeholders have to revisit the national roadmap including its objectives. Also, we will again look at the value chain then come up with the action plan for the development of coffee industry in Negros Occidental,” she added.
The activity initiated by the DTI in partnership with the DA gathered stakeholders including coffee producers, processors, and dealers along with other agencies like the Philippine Coconut Authority (Pca) and Provincial Environment Management Office (Pemo).
Gonzales said the timetable for the implementation of the action plan is one year, but it should be anchored with the national roadmap until 2022.
Gonzales said it should address the local coffee industry situation, with the main direction of increasing the production in the province.
“Rather than importing, we will just produce our own,” the provincial director said, adding that “we need to further boost our coffee industry as it will for sure help a lot of local farmers and producers.”
Stakeholders she said will also include in the said development action plan the support services and other interventions needed by the producers from the DTI and DA as well as Pca, which has coffee and cacao as its cash crops.