Davao City library’s coffee shop buys beans from coops

DAVAO CITY—THE coffee shop at the Davao City Library and Information Center has tapped local agri cooperatives for its supply as the coffee shop owners said they want clients to savor the aroma of the mountain coffee beans of the city’s northern hinterland.

“We are buying beans from cooperatives here but by the end of the year we will be using our own harvest already,” said Agripino Torres, chief executive officer of Magsige Multipurpose Cooperative (MPC), operator of the coffee shop.

The Magsige MPC and the Model Cooperative Network (MCN) are partners in operating the Library Café at the ground floor of the new Davao City Library. It has 30 seats when it opened last month.

The city government gave them the space for its coffee project inside the library.

The city information office said the Magsige MPC started its coffee business 2 years ago with 26 farmer-members. They planted coffee in 46 hectares of land in Marilog.

“We are still expanding; our nursery can cover more hectarage,” Torres said.

The venture of the two cooperatives was supported by the Philippine Coffee Advancement and Farm Enterprise (Philcafe), the government’s investment program for the country’s coffee sector.

Jerson Remo, member of the board of directors of MCN said the coffee shop would serve as a prototype that can eventually be adopted by other cooperatives.

“We are still learning, we do not expect to turn in profits already at this time but it might surprise you to know that we are close to break even,” Remo said.

Torres said they ventured into this business “because the Philippines is a coffee-drinking country” and they could get adequate supply locally.

“There are no other cooperatives that have this kind of endeavor so this inspires us. We are also inspired by the support of Philcafe.”