THE municipality of La Trinidad is gearing up for the 2018 staging of the Coffee Festival set on February 27-28.
The two-day event includes various activities that will celebrate the town's coffee industry such as farmers’ forum and the showcasing of the different byproducts of coffee.
Mayor Romeo Salda said the coffee festival hopes to address several problems in the local coffee industry.
Salda said the farmers’ forum will help formulate data gathering of coffee farmers and production in the Valley. The mayor also urged coffee farmers to form a cooperative.
The festival was created under Ordinance 05-2017, which appoints the mayor as executive chairman with the local council’s committee on tourism and agriculture as co-chair, while representatives from line agencies, coffee farmers group, and the municipal tourism officer as members.
The technical working group is currently working on the theme of festival and will have a funding of P100,000.
Municipal Tourism officer Valred Olsim said that during the festival, they would also invite coffee shops to offer free coffee for the stakeholders.
There are at least 25 coffee shops, six organizations and about 120 coffee farmers in the municipality.