In an affirmation of Nescafe’s commitment to uplift the technical knowledge of coffee farmers, the 16-hectare Nestle Experimental and Demonstration Farm (NEDF) has been offering free short courses to upcoming and veteran coffee farmers, as well as agricultural students looking for on-the-job training venues since 1994. So far, it has already produced over 10,000 coffee technicians.
For this school year alone, 152 individuals have graduated in Nescafe’s three-day coffee training; 37 farmers in its three-week coffee specialist program; and 32 students in its on-the-job training program.
There is also Nescafe’s three-day coffee production technology training, which is open to anyone willing to travel to Tagum to become coffee technicians. It covers all of the coffee farming stages: from nursery management and harvesting to marketing. There is likewise the more extensive two-week training program which coffee farmers from as far as Cagayan Valley in Luzon avail.
"The main purpose of this farm is training," Zenon Alenton, one of NEDF’s resident agronomists, reveals. "All our trainings are free of charge."
NEDF’s on-the-job program for students covers the same curriculum but scheduled conveniently during weekends. At the end of two months, the students will be capable of planting and running their own coffee plantation. Through the years, the demo farm has trained students from agricultural schools across the country including the University of the Philippines Los Banos, Xavier School, Central Mindanao University, to name a few.
But it doesn’t stop there. The NEDF team, including Nestle Philippines Inc. (NPI) head for agricultural services Joel Lumagbas, is available for on-site training and consultation by request. Also through regular visits, the Nestle’ trainers reinforce among farmers the importance of good plantation management, which includes weeding, fertilizing, application of compost or organic fertilizer and pruning, as well as proper harvesting and post-harvest processing methods.
The NEDF has also produced a number of brochures to further aid coffee farmers in improving their yield.
In 2003, Nescafe introduced the Coffee-Based Sustainable Farming System that encourages farmers to plant other crops in-between rows of coffee trees, to provide them with additional or alternative income on a regular basis.
In Misamis Occidental and Batangas, for instance, NPI-Agricultural Services Department trainers help put up coffee farms with companion cash crops such as lemongrass, bananas, sweet potatoes and peanuts. In Romblon, they are starting a coffee farm with jathropa, a principal source of jathropa oil, a major component of a more economical variety of bio-diesel. This coffee companion crop has also a wide range of uses in cosmetics, pharmaceutical and food manufacturing industry.
"Majority of our farmers plant coffee without formal training," say Alenton. "Through Nestle’s training program, we have to change their mindset so they will do away with obsolete practices."
Alenton says that most farmers cut their coffee trees and plant, other crop when coffee prices are low. Now, with the farming system that Nestle’ advocates, he says the farmers will have other source of income.
"We really need to encourage coffee farming and that begins with proper training," Alenton concludes.