The Department of Agriculture (DA) said on Wednesday it will allocate P14.8 million funding under the Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP) to boost coffee production in
Northern Luzon.
“The fund, amounting to P14.8 million, is intended for the Kalinga Integrated Coffee Processing and Marketing Enterprise project,” the DA said in a statement.
“The funding assistance from the DA is expected to ultimately improve the production of coffee beans in the highlands, which has been undergoing a few tweaks under the supervision of PRDP,” it added.
The DA said the coffee-enterprise project will be managed as a cooperative, where dividends and patronage refunds will be distributed. Part of the expected fund will be used to construct a trading post, while bulk of the budget will be used to finance the cost of production of their regular and affiliate members, the DA added.
“The funding will definitely encourage the members to improve the quality and volume of production,” Maximo Wallis, chairman of Kalinga-based Dupligan Farmers Multipurpose Cooperative (Dufamco), which is the lead proponent of the DA’s coffee-enterprise project.
The DA said under the proposed enterprise project, member-farmers of the cooperative will sell their green coffee beans (the industry name of raw, unroasted coffee) to the cooperative per kilo at P83, P86.85 and P92.50 for dried, modified and wet method, respectively.
After being bought by the cooperative, the raw coffee beans will undergo either through wet processing or dry processing, according to the DA. The DA explained that in wet processing, berries are submerged in water and when a berry floats then it is rejected. The berries are then sorted and cleaned, using a machine to remove the pulp and then dried, the DA added.
Meanwhile, the drying process involves naturally drying the cherries, while the beans and all its layers are still intact. For this, the cherries need to be evenly dried for four weeks, the DA said.
After the raw coffee beans were processed, they will be sold to the trading center per kilo at P93 for dried processed beans, P105 for modified processed beans and P115 for wet processed beans, according to the DA. Expected institutional wholesale buyers include the Philippine Coffee Board, Philippine Coffee Alliance, Holsum Food Products and Nestlé, the DA added.
“Coffee farmers in the province currently sell their dry processed unsorted green coffee to local buyers or traders for as low as P80,” Wallis said.
The DA said the Dufamco member-farmers currently produce 450 metric tons of fresh
beans annually.
Kalinga was considered a top producer of coffee in the country from the 1970s to the 1980s, but through the years, it was overtaken by other provinces and currently ranks seventh nationwide, the DA said.