MINDANAO is being eyed to be a source of specialty coffee worldwide, an official said.
Philip Dizon, president of the American Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Inc. in Mindanao and owner of Mt. Apo Coffee, told reporters Wednesday that to position Mindanao as a haven of specialty coffee is a "developing story."
"We are getting there, we are closely in our target of positioning Mindanao as a global source for specialty coffee," Dizon said, adding that "we have to identify a niche market where we can brand Davao's and Mindanao's coffee as a specialty coffee."
Coffee growers are further encouraged to continue to grow quality coffee as China projected a shortage three years from now.
But Dizon lamentated over the continued burning of the forests on Mt. Apo, saying this is a major setback on the direction of the coffee industry.
“In growing coffee, it best grown in shady areas covered with trees, coffee trees grown under shaded areas will live longer, but sadly some 50 to 100 hectares in Mt. Apo was being burned by farmers because no one is prohibiting them to do so, maybe these farmers would just want to expand planting but are not aware about their ways,” Dizon said.
The 50 to 100 hectares affected areas were recorded from November of last year until the present.
He cited that affected areas are Barangay Sibulan, Sitio Sabwag, Davao City and Barangay Kapatagan, Digos City.
“I already brought this issue to the attention of city administrator Melchor Quitain, and several environmental groups, he said that he will look unto the matter. We have to act on this because every minute delayed is a one tree being cut,” Dizon said.
Meanwhile, the Philippine Coffee Board Inc. (PCBI) also urged key players in the industry to increase production of specialty coffee and penetrate the Asean markets.
"With the implementation of the Asean Economic Community (AEC), we are encouraging specialty coffee to be produced by our farmers kasi kilala na tayo as commercial coffee growers. Now the trend is consumers would want to know where the coffee they are drinking came from, what farm, and who are the farmers, that's what we call traceability. And that's the global trend now," Pacita U. Juan, PCBI chairperson, earlier said.
She said Mindanao has a very huge potential in producing quality coffee.
The growing demand for specialty coffee, which already exceeded production, has been one of the major challenges confronting the industry.
This is basically the reason for the country to focus on quality and productivity.
The PCBI data showed that since last year, the country's annual production has remained at 30,000 metric tons (MT), much lower than the actual demand of 100,000 MT.