CCCI mulls support for coffee farmers

CEBU, Philippines - The Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry expressed interest to be involved in developing coffee farming in Cebu.

CCCI president Melanie Ng said that the chamber, with its strong network here and abroad, could easily link these coffee growers in Cebu in terms of market access and technological know-how, among others.

Ng's statement followed after the government, through the National Economic and Development Authority, officially identified the municipality of Tuburan as a beneficiary of the Accelerated and Sustainable Anti-poverty Program. Tuburan has allocated 2,000 hectares for coffee farming.

Although, the chamber officers are yet to convene on this particular subject, Ng sees good opportunity for the coffee growers to improve and increase their production capacity, thereby helping the Philippine regain its position as one of the world's top coffee producers.

The Philippines used to be the third largest exporter of coffee in the world in the 1960s, however today, the country is importing over half of its coffee requirement.

NEDA earlier said that it sees a need to provide coffee seedlings and funds for fertilizers, and for post-harvest facilities and machinery for coffee bean processing.

The ASAPP Cebu team is composed of Tuburan's local government and coffee farmers' organizations.

In a separate interview, Cebuano coffee chain owner Steve Benitez said Bo’s Coffee Club is using Philippine-produced coffee beans, except for de-caffeinated, which is not grown in the Philippines.

He said while the Philippines used to be the top exporter of high quality coffee beans in the world, “never in the recent history that Philippine-grown coffee has been featured. Other countries have successfully branded their coffee variety, but the Philippines has yet to show its global potential.”

The Philippines produced four variety of coffee beans, these are the commercially-viable coffee: Arabica, Liberica (Barako), Excelsa and Robusta. Climatic and soil conditions in the Philippines — from the lowland to mountain regions - make the country suitable for all four varieties. (FREEMAN)