COFFEE STATIONS
Also on Friday, the Bagnen Coffee Satellite Buying Station in Bauko was formally opened. This is one of the four satellite stations, along with the Mountain Province Arabian Coffee Enterprise (MPACE) Consolidation and Trading Center, constructed through funding from the Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP). The main trading center, opened last February 12, will be managed by the Besao Multi-Purpose Cooperative, the project’s main proponent. The P14.3-million MPACE is the province’s first sub-project under the PRDP’s Investment in Rural Enterprises and Agriculture and Fisheries Productivity (I-REAP ) component. PRDP is a World Bank-funded program with the Department of Agriculture (DA) as lead implementing agency. DA-Cordillera Administrative Region head Cameron P. Odsey called on the PRDP beneficiary cooperatives to encourage their members to expand their coffee production, especially with the new support facilities available. “Presently, there is short supply of arabica coffee; thus the need for increased production,” Mr. Odsey said. There are also ongoing road projects in the province under the PRDP’s Intensified Build Up of Infrastructure and Logistics for Development (I-BUILD) component to improve access in far-flung areas. “It is expected that this enterprise will encourage our farmers to plant more coffee trees and to produce quality green beans that will demand a good or higher price thereby increasing our farmers’ income,” Governor Bonifacio C. Lacwasan, Jr. said.