A COFFEE shop inside the Davao City Library will highlight locally produced coffee in a bid to support and promote the local coffee industry.
The City Library Cafe by City Coops is set to have its grand opening on January 18, 2022. The coffee shop is a collaboration between Davao City Government, Manuel Guianga and Sirib Growers and Employees Multipurpose Cooperative (Magsige MPC), Model Cooperative Network (MCN), and Agricultural Cooperative Development International/Volunteers in Overseas Cooperative Assistance (ACDI/Voca).
“Every time you drink a cup of coffee in that coffee shop, you are helping the indigenous people in Davao City because they are the ones who produce the coffee that we’ll be using in the coffee shop,” Agripino Torres, CEO of Magsige MPC, said during the PEP Talks Tourism + Lifestyle Press Forum on January 17 at SM Lanang Premier.
The coffee shop will be sourcing its coffee beans from cooperatives in Davao City. However, Torres said they will soon source from farmers under the Magsige MPC. Some 46 hectares of land in the third district have been planted with coffee and are being attended to by 26 farmers under their cooperative.
Torres also Magsige MPC venturing into the coffee industry developed after training conducted by ACDI/Voca under its PhilCafe project. The project aims to increase production of coffee and to help local farmers to produce good quality coffee following international standards.
“We are providers of technical assistance... so we make sure that this business is sustainable both for the farmers and the cooperative,” PhilCafe project business development services manager Melissa Alado said.
For his part, MCN member of Board of Directors Jerson Remo said, “It is a symbiotic relationship between the coffee shop and the cooperatives that are growing products related to this (coffee) industry. We are also (looking) to franchise this as we master the rudiments of this business soon.”
The cafe can accommodate around 30 to 50 people and is targeted to library-goers, which are mostly students. They serve cold and hot coffee, and the management is expecting to serve tablea products, finger food, and breakfast meals through time. ICE