A group is implementing a five-year project that helps coffee farmers in the country enhance their production.
Terrence John Ryan, chief of party of the Philippine Coffee Advancement and Farm Enterprise (PhilCAFE), a project of the Agricultural Cooperative Development International/ Volunteers in Overseas Cooperative Assistance (Acdi/Voca), said the project targets to support 13,700 coffee farmers and to boost coffee production by more than 50 percent.“The project is going to work on several key elements, one is to strengthen the government in terms of coffee sector of the national and regional level. We will also be focusing on good agriculture practices at the farm level,” said Ryan during the Wednesdays @ Habi at Kape – Abreeza.
He added that the project aims to create inclusive opportunities for people especially those in marginalized areas including Muslims and indigenous peoples.
“We are just at the beginning stages and recently we completed the first important event which is the Philippine Coffee Quality competition 2019,” Ryan said.
The competition was participated by the coffee farmers all over the Philippines last March 23 in Metro Manila.
A coffee farmer from Davao Region, Marivic Dubria ranked first in Arabica category with four other Davao coffee farmers also made it to the top 10, while another made it to the top 12 in Robusta category.
“The full idea is to really emphasize the improved quality of coffee. The result, I should say this year have shown a trend of improvement, that’s a great sign,” he said.
