A BIG-BROTHER small brother mentoring and training approach will be done by the Department of Agriculture (DA) in Davao Region with the Balutakay Coffee Farmers Association (Bacofa) to assist the indigenous people (IP) coffee farmers of Sitio Alegre, Brgy. Managa, Bansalan, Davao del Sur.
Bacofa is an organized group of coffee farmers based in Sitio Pluto, Brgy. Balutakay, Bansalan, Davao del Sur. It currently has around 100 member farmers tilling about 500 hectares of land. As this group had already been organized and their high-quality coffee being sold in different third-wave coffee shops in Davao City and in other parts of the country, they were the ones chosen by DA Davao Region to serve as the ‘big brother’ in guiding the IPs of Sitio Alegre.
Just March of this year, Marivic Dubria and Maria Luz Dubria of Bacofa were among the winners of the Philippine Coffee Quality Competition (PCQC). Their Arabica coffees were given 86.03 rating and 85.41 rating respectively and were among the top 10 best nationwide.
On the other hand, the group of these IP farmers from Sitio Alegre is composed of about 50 to 100 families and owns 500 hectares of ancestral land. However, according to DA Davao Regional High Value Crops Development Program Coordinator Melani Provido, they only target to use 100 hectares of their land for this project.
“We are going to help the farmers in Sitio Alegre to be organized as a group because for now, they do not have a definite group yet. We target to help them rehabilitate areas, expand coffee areas, and to teach them to properly process their coffees as well. In the long run, with this partnership, we look forward that they will be able to supply coffee beans to Bacofa as well,” said Provido.
With Arabica coffees of Bacofa being award-winning, the demand for it had grown as well. Not only do they supply locally but they also already have demands from Japan, United States, and Canada. With this, Provido said it will also be a welcome development and additional source of coffee beans after they have already properly trained and guided the coffee farmers of Sitio Alegre as well.
The big-brother, small-brother project is in partnership also with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Mindanao Development Authority (Minda), and the local government units as well. The project is targeted to kick start within the year.
Since last year, Provido said they have already provided P10 million worth of help for the coffee farmers of Balutakay in the form of post-harvest facilities such as dryers, dehullers, and depulpers. They are also targeting to also provide them with good storage or warehouse for these farmers in the future. On top of these facilities, DA had also helped them with trainings and production support.