Local coffee industry stakeholders have projected bright prospects of the country’s coffee industry once all appropriate interventions and strategies have been put in place particularly by the private sector.
Citing specific and ideal industry directions, Dave Santos, chairman of the Commercial Crops Committee of the Philippine Council for Agriculture and Fisheries (PCAF), asserted the need to rehabilitate the existing total production area of 117,454 hectares to be able to add up to the volume of production by at least 3 percent or an additional 35,235 tons to the existing over 74,000 tons of coffee beans.
He added both the government and the private sector must be able to expand the existing production areas by 50,924 hectares to be able to significantly increase the volume of coffee beans for the benefit of the growth of the industry.
Santos noted during the 2nd National Coffee Conference held in Baguio City that the expansion of production areas should be coupled with the improvement of the quality of planting materials as well as the availability of the said materials to encourage coffee farmers to embrace coffee production as the major source of their income.
The annual conference provided the venue for industry members and other stakeholders of the country’s coffee production sector—which also seek to re-establish the industry’s cost-competitiveness that is aligned with global quality standards, reliable and environment-friendly, at the same time help provide sustainable benefits to farmers, processors, traders and exporters.
The identified coffee producing areas include SOCCSARGEN accounting for 36.74 percent of the country’s production followed by Davao Region – 15.76 percent, ARMM – 13.44 percent, Northern Mindanao – 6.78 percent and the Cordillera Region – 6.95 percent.
On the other hand, the major coffee producing provinces are Sultan Kudarat accounting for 30 percent of the coffee production, Davao del Sur – 6.7 percent, Sulu – 6.4 percent, Bukidnon – 5.6 percent and Cavite – 4.7 percent.
From 2014 to 2015, the overall coffee production of all exporting countries increased by 0.7 percent with the Philippines registered an increase of 3.5 percent in production.
Santos added there was a 2 percent increase in total global coffee consumption from 2014 to 2015 with the Philippines tallying an 8.8 percent increase in total consumption for the said period.
Meanwhile, Santos urged the agriculture department to immediately commence with the accreditation of plant nurseries and certification of seed or clonal gardens and seedlings as these two critical areas of concern, once implemented accordingly and in time could help boost the country’s coffee production industry.