Coffee farmers in Region 12 trained

THE Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Region 12 (Soccsksargen) conducted a training for coffee farmers and agrarian reform beneficiaries in the municipality of Maitum, Sarangani, with an aim to provide “better economic opportunities.”

In a statement on Friday, the DTI Region 12 said that the training was executed through the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program for Basug-Tungal Farmers Association and Upo Valley Farmers Association, the majority of whom are coffee producers.

“The one-day training was aimed to equip participants with basic technical knowledge in roasting their produced green coffee beans,” the DTI said.

“Participants were also introduced to the basics of coffee cupping, enhancing their ability to differentiate between good and poor quality coffee,” it added.

Maitum is a coastal municipality of the province, but the municipality’s highland areas are dedicated to coffee cultivation.

“It is being positioned as a major producer of high-quality coffee in the province,” the DTI added.

“Region 12 holds the distinction of being the country’s leading coffee producer, contributing approximately 32.4 percent to the total domestic coffee production in the 2022 data from the Philippine Statistics Authority. It is poised to be officially recognized as the coffee capital of the Philippines,” the DTI said.

The training program was also pursuant to the Philippines Coffee Industry road map 2021-2025 with the DTI, which seeks to support “small farmers are the country’s main producers of coffee [most especially] in Mindanao.”

“[DTI] focuses on the development, branding, marketing and promotion of Philippine coffee with focus on the specialty coffee,” the road map read.

In addition, the road map seeks to accelerate growth for the coffee industry and to improve coffee farmers’ farm productivity, produce quality and profitability.

One of the strategies under the road map is to identify, organize and capacitate the coffee farms and other coffee enthusiasts, including implementation of appropriate interventions for them.

In 2020, the top three producing regions were concentrated in Mindanao, namely Region 12, or Soccsksargen (South Cotabato, Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani and General Santos City), Davao Region and Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

Mindanao produces and grows 83.63 percent of coffee per year, whereas robusta accounts for 66 percent, 25 percent for arabica, 8 percent for excelsa and 1 percent for liberica.