DAVAO CITY—The local government of Davao City, along with the private sector, is working to revive the city’s coffee industry.
This comes as the coffee industry and the City Agriculturist Office recently revived and reorganized the Davao City Coffee Council
“Nalipay mi kay na narevive kani man gud council sila naga mangulo na mag advocate, advisory council, naga-tanaw sa proper implementation sa program sa kape sa Davao City,” Dario Divino, Agricultural Technologist, Industrial Crops Focal of the City Agriculturist Office Davao City Local Government Unit.
(We are happy that the council was revived. It leads in advocating, it is an advisory council, it looks at the proper implementation of the coffee programs of Davao City.)
“Coffee Council was created as an advisory council to partner with the government so kami sa coffee industry among trabaho we are volunteers at the same time kami naga help sa government kay kami man naa sa sector sa coffee,” Ian Asilo, a coffee farmer and the current vice chairman of the Davao City Coffee Council
(We in the coffee industry are volunteers, and at the same time we help the government because we are in the coffee sector.)
According to Asilo, Davao City has a very big potential to become a popular coffee growing region.
“Davao Region or Davao City we are lucky because we Mt. Apo because coffee is best planted in volcanic soil,” Asilo said.
He said coffee beans from Davao Region are winning in coffee competitions, particularly those from Balutakay in Bansalan, Davao del Sur that lies on the foothills of Mt. Apo.
Asilo said the coffee farmers along with the city government are pushing for the development of highland areas in the city where Arabica coffee, the source of premium specialty coffee, are ideally grown.
Asilo said there is an enormous market for coffee. “Based on the latest data, the Philippines consumes 200,000 tons of coffee per year and the Philippines is just producing 15 to 20 percent of the total local demand of 200,000 tons.
“So, we are just producing less than 50,000 tons so we lack 150,000 tons every year that is why we are importing coffee. We spend dollars when we import coffee,” Asilo said.
He added that prices of coffee are high which hopefully will inspire the upland farmers to plant coffee.
“Yung commercial coffee, yung tinatawag natin na native coffee ang price ngayon almost P300 per kilo, how about fine robusta, fine robusta is high quality robusta P500 pataas ang presyo, ang Arabica mas taas siya gamay,” Asilo said.
(Commercial coffee is what we call native coffee. The price today is nearly P300 per kilo, fine robusta P500 per kilo or higher. Arabica’s prices are much higher.)
As for the City Government initiatives Divino says they are encouraging planting of coffee to meet the demand.
“The program of the city agriculturist office, with the help of the council we encourage farmers to plant coffee in the upper portions, open areas in the city,” Divino said.
These areas are identified in the upland areas of Tamayong, Kahusayan, Marilog, Alon, and Toril.
Most of the coffee farms in the city are in Barangay Calinan with 1,149 hectares and Baguio with 487 hectares planted to coffee.
Peace and environment
Newly elected Coffee Council president Jojie Pantoja who started the Coffee for Peace advocacy says coffee farming helps benefit communities.
“Coffee for Peace we started in conflict affected areas, instead of guns that the people are holding, it would be farming tools. We are also teaching farmers that farming coffee as livelihood goes together with caring for the environment,” Pantoja said.
She said that coffee is ideal for agro-forestry projects, as coffee helps prevent erosion with their extensive root system which holds the soil together.
“Malalim ang kanyang ugat, nagpreprevent ng soil erosion and they protect our water source,” Pantoja said.
(The roots are deep, they prevent erosion.)
In reforestation projects, coffee is planted with other trees to provide livelihood to upland communities aside from regreening the mountains.
She siad coffee trees are ideally planted below forest trees so they can be shaded and produce a better taste profile.
The Coffee Council aims to reach Geographically Isolated and Disadvantage Areas (GIDAS) and help promote coffee farming in the communities especially the indigenous peoples.
Pantoja said there should be many coffee varieties planted to give a different taste profile.
“Because here in the Philippines we don’t have wide plantations, but we can focus on specialty, a differentiated taste profile for tribal communities,” Pantoja said.
Coffee growers in the city are looking at single origin microclimate coffee, where farms that are located in the Davao City side of the Mt. Apo, has different taste profiles with the farms located in the Balutakay side (Davao del Sur side) of Mt. Apo.
The Davao City side of the Mt. Apo has an identified 17,000 hectares that can be planted with coffee using various varieties such as arabica, robusta, and Coffea excelsa. (PIA/RGA).
