Coffee farming shows high income potential for farmers

DAVAO DEL NORTE, June 29 (PIA) – The farming of coffee in the province emerges as a promising agri venture as global demand is higher than the supply being produced.   

Today’s Kapihan sa DavNor episode revealed this economic  opportunity   for coffee farmers following the Launching Ceremony of the Coffee Adaptive Training Approach-cum-Organizational Strengthening of Davao del Norte Coffee Cluster.

Marivic Dubria, 2019 Philippine Coffee Quality Competition Champion – Arabica Category and Chairperson of Balutakay Coffee Farmers Association (BACOFA), shared her experience abroad that assured her of the coffee farming potential in the province.

“Sa mga farmer karon nga gusto mu engage sa coffee farming, dako pa jud kaayo siyag kahigayonan kay katong naa ko sa U.S. ni attend kog expo nga naka second place ko…gipangayoan ko sa buyer ug 22 niladas ka kape pero dili pata in ana maka produce ug kape (To the farmers right now who want to engage in coffee farming, there really is great potential because when I went to the US to attend an expo where I won second place…a buyer had high demands of coffee from me but we don’t have the ability to produce that much at that quality to satisfy the demand right now),” said Dubria.

She added that now is a great opportunity for coffee farmers since the demand is extremely high, “in fact, we get imports just so we can provide the entire Philippines with coffee.”

However, although there exists a great potential and opportunity for coffee farming in the province, Dubria noted that the province currently is not able to produce quality coffee consistently; thus, there is a need for the farmers and organizations to be “strengthened”.

As such, the provincial government along with the Department of Agriculture (DA) XI and Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Provincial Field Office conducted today ‘Launching of Coffee Adaptive Training Approach cum Organizational Strengthening of Davao del Norte Coffee Cluster’ as support.

Consequently, Ubria advised the farmers to attend trainings and seminars, and adapt to the new technology and approach in farming to ensure success in producing quality coffee.

“Ang tambag nako sa mga farmer nga mu engage sa kape… kailangan na nato karon nga e adopt ang bag-ong technology kay naa nata karon sa upgraded na kaayo nga pag farming (My advice to the farmers who want to engage in coffee…we need to adopt the new technology because we are now in a very upgraded state in farming,” she said. (Jan Vincent Leuterio/PIA-XI)