Thursday, December 04, 2008 Farmers urged to plant coffee By Bong S. Sarmiento
TACURONG CITY -- Domestic coffee production is still way beyond the demand, with the country annually importing a volume of 35,000 metric tons with a value of P3.5 billion to fill in the gap, industry data showed.
Owing to this, Rebecca B. Gacayan, a local coffee processor based in Sultan Kudarat province, urged farmers to plant the crop to also avail of the high buying price, now fetching P92.50 per kilo for the premium grade.
Five years ago, farm gate price of coffee, the world's second most traded commodity after petroleum, stood at P36.47 per kilogram (kg), data from the Department of Agriculture (DA) showed.
Citing data from Nestle Philippines Inc. before fellow micro and small entrepreneurs here late last week, Gayacan, processor of Kulaman Coffee product, noted that estimated annual domestic coffee consumption has been pegged at 65,000 MT but production is only 30,000 MT.
"By planting coffee, farmers will have faster turn-over compared to other high-value [fruit] crops. After 18 months, coffee can already be harvested. There is money in coffee farming," she said during the market matching activity organized by the regional Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).
Mindanao has enough area to answer for about 70 percent of the projected 10,000 hectare per year target expansion until coffee self-sufficiency is achieved, she added.
Philippine demand for coffee is growing at two percent annually and the volume is expected to rise to 75,000 MT by 2015, she said.
Coffee production in the country is concentrated in Mindanao, which produced an estimated volume of 17,600 MT last year, industry data showed.
Luzon's coffee production was pegged at 8,975 MT, while the Visayas yielded 2,000 MT during the same period.
In Mindanao, some 54,040 hectares are currently planted with coffee, with Sultan Kudarat province as the leading producer, Gacayan said.
Sultan Kudarat has coffee plantations cutting across 15,500 hectares with a production volume of 5,270 MT, followed by Bukidnon with a coffee plantation area of 7,200 hectares producing 2,500 MT, a Mindanao coffee situationer report showed.
At third is Lanao del Sur in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (Armm) with 6,500 hectares of coffee farms and with production volume of 1,700 MT.
Coffee is the "One Town, One Product" of Senator Ninoy Aquino town in Sultan Kudarat province, which is part of Central Mindanao region.
At present, there are two coffee nurseries in the region straddling 50 hectares, with coffee growers numbering to some 447.
Pacita U. Juan, co-chair of the Philippine Coffee Board, earlier said that Nestle Philippines has plans to develop 5,000 new hectares of coffee plantations in Mindanao annually.
Juan, also the chief executive officer of Figaro Coffee Systems Inc., noted that Mindanao is an ideal coffee-growing location because it is typhoon-free.
Urging farmers to plant the crop, she said that half of the country's coffee requirement is being sourced from Vietnam and Thailand.
