THE Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said it will encourage more farmers in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) to plant coffee by providing more support to the industry.
DTI-CAR Director Myrna T. Pablo said the government wants to double the number of coffee farmers in the region to about 6,000, from the current 3,210.
“Our target in CAR, in terms of number of farmers is to double that to 6,000, but this will mean adding our plantations to increase production. We also want to grow the number of processors,” Pablo said on the sidelines of a forum held in Baguio City.
She said the government is increasing its support to the coffee industry of CAR, including the provision of loans from the DTI’s Small Business Corp. and a P4-million shared services facility, as well as the growing network of Negosyo Centers in the region.
Pablo said the government is cognizant of the need to increase coffee production.
She said the DTI and the Department of Agriculture are keen on encouraging farmers to plant more coffee, as the demand for both Arabica and Robusta coffee exceed the region’s output.
“The market for coffee is really huge, but we’re not producing enough. Support for the coffee industry is, at least, increasing, with the loans and the Negosyo Centers,” Pablo said.
She said upgrading and training in modern farm technology will also aid in boosting production.
Trade Undersecretary Zenaida C. Maglaya cited as an example the cast of Nestlé, the biggest institutional buyer of coffee in the country, which imports 75 percent of their coffee requirement from abroad.
“[In coffee], we have to be able to sell and be reliable in terms of volume. That’s the potential we see in the market,” Maglaya said.
“We are trying to work on our supply because it’s not enough to say we have Arabica and Robusta,” she added.
CAR is the fifth-largest producer of coffee in the Philippines. Currently, there are a total of 13 coffee producing regions in the country.