New opportunities open for new breed of coffee farmers

MANILA, Philippines - Coffee farming is increasingly gaining renewed popularity in the Philippines, with a new generation of farmers now continuing their family business.  Eager to enjoy its many economic opportunities and benefits, they are choosing to embrace their heritage instead of abandoning it for other pursuits. 

Sown seeds

Thirty-one year old Ceres Magbanua is among this new breed of coffee farmers, having taken the reins in managing their farms in Sultan Kudarat from her father who taught her the ins and outs of coffee farming.

“Nagsimula ang tatay ko sa coffee farming noong 1986 nung nakabili siya ng lupa,” shares Ceres, “High school pa lang ako, tinuruan na niya kaming magkakapatid tungkol sa kape – kung ano ang good beans, ang tamang pag-ani at pagbenta.”

This early exposure has provided her with considerable knowledge of coffee cultivation as well as a deep appreciation for it. In fact, although she was previously employed as a pharmacist, she decided a few years ago to concentrate on the family enterprise.

Given that coffee practically runs in her blood – several members of her relatives have eventually also taken up coffee cultivation – Ceres admits that she hopes to enlarge her family’s farm holdings in the future, counting it as a blessing to have such an inheritance.

Arvin Lagura also comes from a coffee growing clan; his father entered the trade in the 1980s, when the industry was in the midst of a boom. However, over the years, his family slowly shifted its focus to other crops.

Renewed interest in coffee farming, though, has encouraged the forty-year-old Lagura to once again plant the crop in their modest farm – an act being replicated throughout his hometown of Tagbina, Surigao del Sur. “Ngayon, marami na kaming bumalik sa pagka-kape,” says Arvin, citing attractive returns as well as support from both the government and private sector as key to this resurgence.

Source of support

Among those which have been steadfastly supporting the local coffee industry is Nestlé Philippines. As part of the Nescafé Plan, its global initiative that supports responsible farming, production and consumption, the company has been providing assistance and training to smallholder coffee farmers such as Ceres and Arvin, in order to improve their income through increased quantity and quality of yield with the best available technologies and a lower environmental impact.    

“May mga training ang Nestlé para malaman naming mga farmers ang mga tamang technique sa pagtatanim at pagpapalaki ng ani,” shares Arvin.  “Nagsasagawa rin sila ng soil analysis ng farm bago ito tamnan (para malaman ang mga kailangan para sa matagumpay na pagsasaka ng kape).”

Although she has yet to attend a training herself, Ceres comments that such a session has enormously helped augment her father’s knowledge of coffee growing and production, teaching him stem grafting methods and the proper coffee drying process. Further, Nestlé also provides farmers with coffee seedlings at cost; in fact, one of Ceres’ farms has been planted with seedlings from one of Nestlé’s mother plant gardens. 

“We are hoping that more and more farmers become encouraged to either start or continue farming coffee with the new technologies & expertise made available to them through the Nescafé Plan” remarks Edith de Leon, senior vice president and head of corporate affairs of Nestlé Philippines.

According to de Leon, as the biggest buyer of green coffee in the country, the Nescafé Plan is company’s commitment to help address the disparity between local demand and supply. Citing 2012 figures, she revealed that local demand for coffee beans totaled to over 70,000 metric tons (MT), while local production hit only 25,000 MT.