AN ARABICA coffee variety has grown in Benguet for over a century now. Benguet folks say it's the best coffee there is. How come it has remained undeveloped to this day?

There is certainly great value to be realized from ongoing efforts for the promotion and development of the Benguet coffee industry. It should start with the present generation's perceptions on the relevance and importance of this crop to their current and future social and economic life.

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The perception that Benguet coffee is the best coffee around is by "word and action" a legacy from the older generation that the present generation miserably failed to build on.

The old folks adopted the crop from the Spaniards, planted and cared for it in their backyard and consumed it with the declaration; "Benguet coffee is the best there is!"

In the present advertising language, such a declaration is a masterpiece. It's a statement that has been passed from one generation to the next except that the succeeding ones were simply contented in mouthing it to the point that it has become a meaningless slogan.

There are wonderful stories by the older generation about "Benguet coffee" and why it is the best coffee beverage. Here are two quotes from the old folks: "I have lived long with coffee and camote as breakfast;" and, "Drinking coffee gives me energy day and night..."

The statement "Benguet coffee is the best there is..." is one of belief. It is a belief in the crop and the farmer that grows and cares for it for his own use and benefit. By way of extension and because it eventually adopted Benguet as its first name, it is good for the province of Benguet.

The same assertive declaration is also a statement of pride for one's heritage and place. And it is certainly not misplaced nor empty from the start. So why allow it to degenerate into a slogan or just some advertisement?

In a recent forum organized by the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the province of Benguet to promote the development of Benguet coffee, a local official and a coffee grower complained about the disparity between the price of Benguet coffee and Sagada coffee in the Baguio market, hotels and restaurants.

Someone said the price was recommended by a government agency but I would rather want the market itself to make its justification for the prices for green, roasted and brewed coffee on the basis of origin. I have always thought that place of origin has little to do in the commerce of coffee, but illustrated here are the benefits and genuine belief on the economics of a crop such as coffee.

In Sagada, particularly those from Fedilisan, they also used to claim that Fedilisan coffee is "the best coffee there is." The folks there grow and consume only Fedilisan coffee because of this strong belief and perception that there is no better coffee than what they have.

If they go out, they look for their own coffee. Away from their place, they may soon drink other coffee but they make known with genuine longing that "Fedilisan coffee is the best." This kind of advertisement, if we call it that, has influenced many who are not from the place to accept with sincerity that indeed, Fedilisan coffee is just what the growers claim it to be.

However, the appeal of Fedilisan coffee is losing steam nowadays. It is not enough to simply say that one's coffee is the best just to make money and then buy instant coffee for your own family and visitors. If it is the best coffee, you grow and serve it and sell only your surplus with the kind of longing that comes with giving away a precious treasure.

Now that is not just some kind of a story. Vie Reyes, proprietor of Serenity Coffee, who spent some time in Brazil studying it's coffee industry confirms that success in this industry must start with the local growers and their communities.

"The Brazilians," she said, "consume only their local coffee and sell their surplus to the world."

We don't need to copy the Brazilians, you see. We only need to continue believing in our own and our farmers. If we all agree, we must continue to believe and invest in our own.

If farmers grow coffee for their own families and communities first, local consumers must also invest in it with the willingness to buy the farmers' surplus. Business and government institutions also invest in it by buying more locally grown coffee for their customers.

Government agencies and offices can do a lot by serving locally sourced brewed coffee in their meetings, seminars and other functions.

As demands grow, government and private sector investment to improve production, processing and packaging to start and expand community coffee industries must come in.

When this happens, I believe that communities, who believe in their own coffee, invest more in it as "the best coffee there is" will leave a growing industry that is fitted to the emergence of thriving, green and beautiful communities in the Cordillera highlands. What a meaningful legacy for the present generation of Cordillerans to leave to the next.

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(November 21, 2008 issue)
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