Philippines Coffee Farmers Plant Trees

In fact, local farmers are now considering to plant at least one million coffee trees of the "arabica" variety, which are expected to start bearing fruits in the next three years or so.

It will be recalled that since the Spanish era, the Philippines heavily exported arabica, robusta and excelsa coffee varieties to Europe and North America.

At the height of the Philippines' coffee exports, it used to sell to the world several thousands of tons of coffee annually. Coffee was then one of the Philippines major traditional exports.

But problems spawned by the unstable world market price of coffee beans, quota restrictions and high cost of production, dealt a telling blow to the domestic coffee industry.

Now, the Philippines hardly exports coffee, if at all it still does. Even the workload of the Department of Trade and Industry's (DTI) International Coffee Organization Certifying Agency (ICOCA) has been remarkably reduced.

However, realizing the recent surge of the demand for the beverage, several Benguet coffee drinkers here lauded the move by the Department of Agriculture (DA) to increase starting this year, the production and marketing of coffee seeds.

Earlier, the DA launched a coffee plantations development thrust, as a component of its' Ginintuang Masaganang Ani - High Value Crops (GMA-HVC) program.

Ceferino Willy, a local farmer and ranch owner said the move of the Cooperative Bank of Benguet (CBB) and Benguet Organic Coffee Arabica Enterprises Limited (BOCAEL) will try to revive a decades-old industry in Arabica coffee trees.

In planting new coffee trees, he said, the farmers will not only contribute to the improving economy of Benguet. but would also assure "us of a continuous supply of our favorite beverage, which our forefathers also loved."

Historically, the coffee variety referred to by the natives as "Benguet coffee," are actually the Arabica variety, which was introduced by the Spanish colonizers in Benguet sometime in the 18th century.

Aside from Benguet, the "arabica" variety, which is the most fragrant among a selection of coffee strains, was also introduced to the mountains of Bukidnon, Davao, Lanao and Tagaytay.

In then, the coffee industry was a thriving business. But with the development of instant coffee, its entry and eventual dominance of the market it virtually killed Benguet's coffee brewing business sometime in the 1096s.

However, Willy and other local farmer leaders now see the return of the market for roasted and ground Benguet coffee.

With government assistance in sales and market development, the farmers' group now have their eyes trained towards both the local and worldwide markets.

"We believe that with the programs of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, we can effectively re-start our once booming production of Benguet coffee, especially when we will also be assisted in marketing by the CBB lead by manager Gerry Lab-oyan and BOCAEL chair Cipriano Bayangan," said Willy.

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