Brewing up a bright future: A coffee investor’s story

MANILA, Philippines - Captain Roberto Neri, by his own admission, does not naturally possess the greenest of thumbs. The chairman of a shipping line he established almost 20 years ago, Neri’s most successful business endeavor has involved braving the high seas rather than harnessing the land. Still, this farmer at heart has his eyes set on a new venture, which he is pursuing with the focus of a perpetual go-getter: coffee cultivation.

“I don’t have any background in coffee farming, but I love to farm,” Neri says, sharing how he was never successful in planting crops in his home province of Iloilo because its rainy climate would ruin the ones he wanted to grow.

Undeterred by these early agri-business forays, his interest in coffee farming was spurred, fittingly enough, during a breakfast conversation with his daughter. Neri learned that coffee, while a promising investment, is relatively underrated in the country – despite it being not as expensive to develop and maintain compared to other crops. In fact, based on 2012 figures, the Philippine demand for coffee beans totaled 70,000 metric tons (MT) while local production only hit 25,000 MT, requiring importation from other countries.

Sowing the seeds for success

With his curiosity piqued, Neri and his shipping line business partner Flora Ignacio set out to know more about coffee farming from the Nestlé Coffee Plantlet Production and Training Center (NCPPTC) in Tagum City.

As the Philippines’ first agricultural research and development hub, NCPPTC disseminates information and provides support related to coffee cultivation to interested farmers and investors. The facility is at the core of the Nescafé Plan, Nestlé’s global initiative supporting responsible coffee farming, production and consumption, which locally aims to increase Philippine-sourced coffee. Apart from being a source of information, NCPPTC also serves as a one-stop shop serving as a Robusta seedling production nursery, training and techno-demo center, buying station and composting facility for organic fertilizer.

After Neri connected with Nestlé via NCPPTC, the company sent its agronomists to assess the farmland in New Corella, Davao del Norte earmarked by Neri and Ignacio for their venture. With the soil there deemed suitable for coffee farming, the pair proceeded to purchase seedlings from Nestlé, which they still do up to today. Their workers subsequently received training from the NCPPTC on growing the crop and using various farming techniques and practices.

Neri and Ignacio started out with a hectare of land and 1,000 seedlings. Three years of hard work later, they have expanded their holdings to 26 hectares and counting. The duo ultimately aims for 50 hectares filled to the last plot with coffee.

Eyes on the future

While their current coffee crop is still young and their harvests are not yet as numerous and suitable for selling, Neri has his sights set into the future.  Aside from being in the process of investing in coffee-drying equipment, he and Ignacio are close to establishing a cooperative for people in the area with small plots of land who are willing to grow coffee. Neri said interested parties have already talked to him about joining the venture.

Coffee farmers like Neri give further optimism to the country’s coffee industry – an outlook Nestlé shares and would like to help sustain. “With the expertise and technologies available through the Nescafé Plan, we hope to help coffee investors such as Capt. Neri grow and maximize their investments,” says Edith de Leon, senior vice president and head of Corporate Affairs of Nestlé Philippines, sharing that doing so also helps the company secure its long-term supply of coffee in the country.

Nestle currently imports 70 percent of its coffee requirements while only 30 percent is sourced in the Philippines – a trend it would like to reverse.

“The opportunity is so big and the demand is so great,” Neri says of coffee farming. "I can see a bright outlook for it.”