The ash that the restive Taal Volcano has been spewing for days is hurting coffee growers in Batangas and Cavite. According to news reports, the Department of Agriculture has pegged the damage at P74 million, as of last week.
The damage to agricultural properties will not only affect coffee growers in these areas but the Philippine coffee industry as a whole, so the government is stepping up efforts to help the farmers. Other coffee farming communities should help in any way they can, officials said.
Thus, Rio Tuba Nickel Mining Corp. has announced its communities’ successful venture into coffee farming as a livelihood source. Eight barangays around Rio Tuba have allotted 152 hectares for planting coffee and RTN added 48 hectares more, for a total of 200 hectares for coffee alone.
With years of preparation needed before the land is able to yield coffee beans, RTN and its partner barangays collaborated with Rocky Mountains Arabica Coffee for the transfer of technology, and with the Palawan Cooperative Union and the Cooperative Development Aide Authority for the training and sharing of best practices in coffee farming.
Bong dela Rosa, RTN Community relations manager, said they have started harvesting Liberica beans, known locally as “kapeng barako,” and are finding ways to perfect the processing of these beans to produce coffee from a mining community that would live up to the quality that Philippine coffee is known for.
“Hurdling the first and the biggest challenge of being able to grow coffee in a lateritic mining soil is already a huge success! Thanks to the help of coffee farming experts from the Cavite State University, the center of coffee research in the country, we are now greatly encouraged, we are inspired,” says Dela Rosa.
The coffee planting process in this mining community in Rio Tuba uses what is called the microbial technology. where the soil is conditioned using organisms and enzymes that make the lateritic soil healthy enough to grow agricultural products.
It takes about 4 years for coffee to start yielding beans. Just last year, the communities in Rio Tuba that are in this coffee-growing program successfully made their coffee available for local tasting. The goal is to make this venture sustainable so that, soon, the communities will be able to sell their produce and earn.
Dela Rosa shares that RTN and sister firm Coral Bay Nickel Corp. (CBNC) have allocated P36 million to support the mobilization of the coffee farming project, which is now in its fourth year.
The International Coffee Organization (ICO) once reported that the world consumes almost 2 billion cups of coffee every day, and that intake steadily grows. Statistics say that 93% of Filipino households buy coffee products at least 3 times a week.
“This is the opportunity we want to take advantage of,” said dela Rosa.
The coffee project was funded by RTN’s Social Development and Management Program (SDMP) in support of the Provincial Government of Palawan’s mandate to provide livelihood opportunities to communities impacted by mining operations in their areas.
