From specialty brews to instant coffee to the now ubiquitous three-in-one sachets, coffee is easily everyone’s favorite drink. And with the proliferation of coffee shops, having a cup of coffee has become a total lifestyle experience.
But there is much more to making a cup of coffee than adding hot water. This I found out on a recent visit to the 16-hectare Nestle Experimental and Development Farm (NEDF) in Barangay Magdum, Tagum City, Davao del Norte.
"A cup of Nescafe comes with so much labor," says Cenon Alenton, NEDF resident agronomist, adding that making coffee involves a very tedious process which basically starts with a good seed.
The NEDF not only assures Nestle of a supply of quality green coffee beans but is also a training venue for coffee farmers. Over 10,000 coffee farmers have attended the year-round NEDF training since it was established in 1994. Aside from classroom training, farmers get actual experience on the 16-hectare farm, which is planted to coffee in various stages of growth.
"The farmers are introduced to proven agricultural methods and new technologies in an effort to increase the quality and quantity of their harvest," Alenton says.
Nestle Coffee brand manager Richard Peñalosa points out that the quality of coffee production is something that the company could not sacrifice. "Nestle is making sure that each cup of Nescafe is a product of a quality process that starts from the coffee farming itself."
At the NEDF, a farmer is taught the whole gamut of coffee farming, from nursery management, planting, cultivation, harvesting, to marketing. NEDF farm workers, clad in orange shirts, are on hand to share their expertise on proper handling of coffee plants.
"We provide training to anyone who is interested to get into coffee farming. They could come in groups or individually," Alenton says.
NEDF also distributes coffee seeds which are sold at P200 per bag to plant up to five hectares while ready-to-plant seedlings cost P8 each. Distributing quality planting materials to farmers leads to quality harvests if the proper planting procedure is followed.
NEDF discourages the planting of "wildlings" or wild coffee plants since these produce inconsistent yields.
During our visit to the NEDF we saw how each seed is individually planted in the nursery where it stays for eight months before it is ready for planting. While they propagate different coffee varieties such as Robusta, Arabica, Liberica and Excelsa, Nestle is more into Robusta for its soluble coffee production.
An important key in the propagation is nursery and plantation maintenance. NEDF also encourages the use of organic fertilizers which cost much less than inorganic materials like urea.
"We are very strict with the quality of coffee beans," says Alenton. "Good farming practices affect the taste of coffee itself."
The harvesting and marketing aspects are likewise given high priority because it is at those stages that traders and coffee production companies, such as Nescafe, determine which coffee beans to buy.
The manual method of harvesting is recommended since coffee berries do not mature or ripen at the same time. The selective method of harvesting by hand allows the other coffee berries to ripen at a later time. Yellow to red berries give the best tasting beverage.
Nestle Agricultural Services chief Joel Lumagbas says Nestle accounts for 92 percent of the country’s total soluble coffee market. Nestle has 11 buying stations nationwide located in key coffee-producing regions such as Davao City, Marbel in South Cotabato, Cotabato City, Cavite, Solano, Lanao del Sur, and Zamboanga City.
The beans are graded at the buying stations and must meet basic standards like being of uniform size, free from mold, foreign bodies and insects. The beans are subjected to the cup taste test, moisture test and percentage triage.
Even the packing of the coffee beans is specified: green line bags must be made of jute or other natural fibers. Used bags that are suitably repaired as well as synthetic or plastic bags are also acceptable.
"We really encourage our coffee farmers not only to go for quantity but that they must work for quality as well," Lumagbas says.
From the buying stations, the coffee beans are brought to the Nescafe processing plant in Cagayan de Oro City where these are made into the favorite blends found in the market.
There may be money in coffee farming, but why is it that from being a leading exporter in the 1970s and 1980s, the Philippines now imports more than 50 percent of its annual demand of 64,000 metric tons of coffee beans?
Lumagbas explains that the country’s coffee industry suffered its hardest blow in 1997 when it started importing coffee beans from Vietnam, which subsequently rose to 50 percent of the total demand.
Nestle, through the NEDF, is doing its share in helping resurrect the lost glory that the country used to enjoy as the third largest coffee-producing nation next to Brazil and Colombia.
Only a total of 74,589 hectares is planted into coffee in the country today with an estimated crop production of 27,500 metric tons or less than half of the country’s present demand of 64,000 metric tons.
The Philippine coffee map shows that Southwest Mindanao has the most number of hectares planted to coffee, at 35,800 hectares or almost one half of the total coffee hectarage. That is followed by Northeastern Mindanao with 17,850 hectares and Southern Luzon with 9,464 hectares, Visayas with 6,475 hectares and Northern Luzon with 5,000 hectares.
"There is really a need to convince farmers to get into coffee farming. We have to show them that there is money in coffee," Lumagbas says.
Existing coffee bean buying prices range between P61 to P62 per kilo, as dictated by world market prices. "Prices could go up or down depending on the world market. But a coffee farmer could do well if prices do not go belowthe P50 level," he adds.
The National Coffee Develop-ment Board hopes to at least meet the target by 2015 for the country to become self-sustaining and no longer importing coffee from either Vietnam or Indonesia.
"That is why, aside from planting, we are also encouraging farmers to plant other crops in between coffee trees for additional income on their part," he further says.
The NEDF is also conducting research and studies on inter-cropping to help farmers identify which crops aside from the coffee trees could yield the most income.
"Efforts are really made not only to ensure quality of the country’s production but also to increase the yields to previous levels when the Philippines enjoyed a high status in the world market," he points out.