DAVAO CITY—Mindanao farmers have figured prominently during the recent 2nd Philippine Coffee Quality Competition in Baguio City, an event that sprang some “surprising” trends in the industry.
None among Mindanao farmers got the top awards, though, for the two popular varieties—the Arabica and Robusta—but soon enough the market showed its appreciation to the quality of the products that the farmers from the region produced.
Lucky Siegfred M. Balleque, provincial director of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) for Compostela Valley, told the BusinessMirror that “production has not really went up as hoped, but the quality has improved tremendously at the level of the farms.”
“There have been some improvements in production [in Mindanao], but the increase is slow. Yet, over the years, the quality in the [harvested coffee] beans has really improved,” he said.
The quality competition itself has brought relief to organizations helping Filipino farmers improve their coffee production.
“Generally, the quality has been shown not only by one or some few farmers, but by a big percentage of coffee farmers,” he said.
The winners
For the commonly used Robusta coffee beans, Ilocos Sur snatched the first, third and sixth spots for high quality, while Bukidnon got the second and fourth slots and Compostela Valley the fifth.
The rest of the top 10 high-quality Robusta beans were also won by Mindanao growers.
Arabica beans, desired for specialty coffee, were shown to be better produced by Benguet farmers, who were awarded the top, the third and the fifth spots, while Bansalan, Davao del Sur, farmers romped away with the second and sixth spots, and Bukidnon, the fourth slot.
There were no other Mindanao farmers in the remaining top 10 places, but three of them landed in the 10th to 12th places.
The win by Mindanao farmers apparently validated the attention given by coffee industry leaders to “the coffee down South,” citing the differently delicious and aromatic beans grown, especially those in the hinterlands.
The quality competition is a nationwide annual activity “to bring quality of Philippine coffee to greater heights resulting in higher value,” a briefer of the DTI said.
The coffee competition is being conducted by the DTI and of Agriculture, and the Acdi/Voca, or Agricultural Cooperative Development International/Volunteers in Overseas Cooperative Assistance.
The Acdi/Voca is implementing a Mindanao Productivity in Agricultural Commerce and Trade Project funded by the United States Department of Agriculture.
Some 108 green coffee bean (GCB) samples of Philippine origin were received for grading by both international and local graders invited by the Coffee Quality Institute facilitated by the Acdi/Voca, including Charlie Habegger of Blue Bottle USA and Asia, and Samuel Gurel of Torch Coffee Co. Local coffee grader Daniel Byron Pantoja of the Davao City-based Coffee for Peace likewise joined the event.
Of the 108 samples, only three were disqualified and the 105 samples accepted and graded.
What amazed the graders and the industry leaders was the increasing high quality of the beans produced by many farmers.
In the March competition in Baguio, both the highest and lowest scores have improved by not less than two percentage points from the first competition held the previous year.
This year’s grade of 87.06 percent sent by topnotch Arabica grower, Oliver Oliem of Caliking, Atok, Benguet province, was up from last year’s 85.75 percent. Robusta’s 85.96 percent in this year’s competition generated by Rodolfo Aciong of Quirino, Ilocos Sur, was higher compared to 83.42 percent from last year.
Gladly for the organizers, the lowest scores were not far from the highest. Arabica posted a lower score of 83.47 percent, but this was higher than the previous year of 80 percent. Robusta’s 85.96 percent was two percentage points higher than the previous year of 83.42 percent.
Balleque said the general grade for the 105 qualified bean samples were graded a high of 80 percent, where before the beans were virtually of low quality, and therefore generally ungraded.
Payoff
Balleque said the prodding and encouraging actions by industry associations are beginning to pay off.
“Farmers did not shift to other crops and instead stuck to coffee, applying good farm and agricultural practices, like pruning and rehabilitating old trees,” he said.
The government also provided training and planting materials.
Farmers were also beginning to be selective in the beans, adapting the “pick red” practice instead of the traditional stripping of a stem of both red, cherry and green beans.
Where before the farmers were being made to accept the P80 to P110 pricing of their products at farm-gate price, the increased quality production enabled them to command higher prices.
Now, farmers of Balutakay, Bansalan, Davao del Sur, are commanding more than double the price, to P250 and P270 per kilo of the red beans. Their winnings in the competition have officially ascertained the quality of their beans.
But the Bagong Silang and Maragusan farmers of Compostela Valley have eye-popping surprise in landing in the top ten spots in the competition.
“They are currently being offered P500 a kilo for their coffee beans,” Balleque said.
Auction
But the DTI and coffee industry leaders said it was time for farmers raising high-quality beans to demand much higher price.
“We are pondering on putting into auction the sale of high-quality beans and get the best price for the farmers,” he said. Putting it into auction may likely raise the P500 offer to double, if not triple, the current offer of a Luzon merchant to the Compostela Valley farmers.
Because of the generally observed improvement in quality across different farms nationwide, farmers would likely see also an industry-wide increase in the buying price of coffee. “It would not be P80 to P110 per kilo anymore,” he said.
Balleque said, however, that farmers need to increase their production also to maximize the favorable pricing situation of coffee now.
“We still have to hit the demand level, even locally,” he said.
The International Coffee Organization reported the Philippines with declining exports. On a monthly basis in January, it was still able to export 1,000 60-kilogram bags in 2017, but none last January. And between October 2016 and January 2017, the Philippines exported 7,000 bags but none the following year.
The Philippine Statistics Authority noted this trend when it said the production of dried coffee berries in the last quarter of 2017 decreased by 8.7 percent from 32.17 thousand metric tons for the same period last year to 29.36 thousand metric tons.
The decline was caused by the harvest of less berries, the PSA said, and traded it to:
- Cutting of old and less productive Arabica coffee trees in the Soccsksargen region, notably in Sultan Kudarat, and Zamboanga Peninsula, especially in Zamboanga del Norte, and Robusta coffee trees in Davao Region (Davao City and Compostela Valley);
- Strong winds and heavy rains during flowering and fruit development stage of Robusta coffee trees in Soccsksargen, also in Sultan Kudarat, Caraga (Surigao Sur) and Davao Region (Davao City and Compostela Valley); and
- Adverse effects of fruit borers on Robusta coffee trees in Sultan Kudarat.
The PSA said the top coffee-producing region was Soccsksargen, at 10.5 thousand metric tons, contributing 35.9 percent to the national total production. The other major producing regions were the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, Davao Region and Western Visayas, which contributed 21.5 percent, 16.4 percent and 11.8 percent, respectively.
Of total coffee production, Robusta coffee was the top-produced variety at 71.6 percent, followed by Arabica, 23.3 percent; Excelsa, 4.2 percent; and Liberica, 1.0 percent.
Where to?
Two of the more popular coffee species are Arabica and Robusta. Arabica, which accounts for about 60 percent of the world’s commercial coffee production, prefers to grow in light shade and highlands and is delicate and vulnerable to disease. Robusta, on the other hand, can grow in lowlands and is more resistant to blight, the Acdi/Voca said.
Its chief of party, Thelonious Trimmell, said on several occasions here that as coffee shops multiply to cater to the growing coffee-drinking population, the demand also grows in high-quality coffees or specialty coffees.
In the farms, the government has to assist the farmers in providing processing facilities, such as central roasting equipment and station for the scattered farms.
Awareness must also be pushed hither into the interior farms to practice good agriculture, Balleque said, “because the unmet local demand alone for coffee should be an incentive enough to have a sustainable livelihood if done well and appropriately to raise both production and quality.”
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