Tuesday, February 26, 2008 Benguet U earns int'l okay for organic coffee By Jane Cadalig
THE Benguet State University's (BSU) bid of becoming the first organic university in Southeast Asia got a boost as one of the world's top coffee makers chose the university's coffee as its raw material.
The university recently obtained certification from the International Marketecology (IMO) for its organic Arabica coffee production. IMO is the agency responsible for ensuring the quality of environmentally friendly products, organic agriculture and management systems.
The IMO certification allowed BSU to be the supplier of organic coffee Arabica to Figaro Foundation Corporation and Figaro Coffee Company.
Professor Valentino Macanes of BSU said the institution has signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with Figaro Company as early as 2004 for the production and marketing of organic Arabica coffee.
BSU's IMO certification was issued last month, but was presented to local media last week. This allowed BSU to produce, process and market Arabica coffee to Figaro.
Macanes said Figaro would be responsible for marketing the product to Europe, one of the major coffee drinking regions in the world.
Farmers in Benguet and in the region are being encouraged to engage in Arabica coffee production because of its economic viability. A kilo of the raw coffee bean is sold at P70 to P180 in the local markets.
BSU has been one of the institutions that are pushing farmers to engage in coffee growing to increase the demand for raw coffee beans.
Macanes said under the MOA with Figaro, BSU should supply the coffee company with at least one metric ton of coffee beans per crop production. This is difficult to attain at present, given the current production, which is 300 kilograms per hectare. Arabica coffee is an annual crop.
Benguet Governor Nestor Fongwan welcomed the IMO certification given to BSU, saying this will encourage more farmers to engage in coffee growing.
Coffee production, he said, will provide additional income for the farmers.
