DA 11 pushes for cacao, coffee rehab

DAVAO CITY – The Department of Agriculture 11 (DA 11) is now pushing for cacao and coffee rehabilitation that will benefit the farmers in the region.

DA 11 chief information officer Noel Provido said this move will show to the farmers the benefits of rehabilitating cacao and coffee trees instead of planting another tree.

Provido said this would be more efficient for the farmers because they will immediately earn from it as it will bear fruits in a short span of time.

“All they have to do is to prune the trees,” he said.

He said their office has already allocated a total of P46 million for the trainings, slow-release fertilizers and pruning equipment to the farmers associations all over the region.

Provido said the agency is showing the farmers the technology being used for it so that they will practice it in their farms.

“We did demo farming because these farmers have this ‘to see is to believe’ mentality,” he said.

He said the DA 11 is willing to provide the technology to the farmers and all they need to do is form a cooperative or association.

Balutakay Coffee Farmers Association (Bacofa) chairperson Bebelyn Daño from Bansalan, Davao del Sur, said when their farmers practised the rehabilitation of their coffee, they saw the improvement in their harvest.

Daño said coffee beans that are taken from the rehabilitated coffee would be back to its high grade quality.

She said, with the trainings and technology provided by the DA- High Value Crops Development Program, the farmers are now able to identify high grade coffee beans for selling in the market. (Armando B. Fenequito, Jr.)