Government urged to fast-track coffee, coconut intercropping

MANILA, Philippines — The government should prioritize intercropping coffee with coconut in at least 144,000 hectares of land in the CALABARZON region to achieve sufficiency in coffee under its program bankrolled by the coconut levy trust fund, industry groups said.

The Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Food Inc. (PCAFI) said the country would become self-sufficient in coffee if the government would plant the commodity alongside coconuts in at least 144,000 hectares in the region alone.

At least 480,000 hectares in CALABARZON are planted with coconuts today, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

PCAFI president Danilo Fausto said achieving such intercropping goal would yield 144,000 metric tons in additional coffee output that would significantly reduce the country’s dependence on importation.

The country currently imports at least 60 percent of its coffee bean requirements as local production cannot keep up with the growing demand for the commodity.

Fausto proposed that the government, particularly the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA), prioritize its coffee-coconut intercropping program to expand coconut and coffee production at the same time.

There are about 17,700 hectares of farm areas nationwide that are intercropped with coffee and coconut, based on the government’s coconut industry roadmap.

Intercropping in coconut farms has been one of the flagship programs of the government in boosting coconut farmers’ income and improving their welfare.

The PCA targets to spend P3.3 billion for the intercropping of coconut farms, which includes coffee, cacao, livestock and poultry, across five years of implementing the Coconut Farmers Industry and Development Plan (CFIDP) which is being financed by the coconut levy trust fund.

The PCA and the Philippine Coffee Board Inc. (PCBI) established the country’s first coconut-coffee model farm in Amadeo, Cavite recently to showcase the income opportunity of such farm practice.

A one-hectare of farm with 100 coconut trees intercropped with coffee could generate an income of at least P1 million a year, based on PCA and PCBI’s estimates.