The Philippine Coffee Board Inc., a non-governmental organization helping resuscitate the Philippine coffee industry, has asked government to allocate P80 million funding for the establishment of 32 coffee mills across the 22 coffee-growing provinces to enable farmers to get higher value for the specialty coffee markets.

PCB president Chit Juan said they have asked for financing from the National Agribusiness Corp. (NABCOR), a government-owned and controlled corporation of the Department of Agriculture, and in partnership with DA’s High Value Commercial Crops (HVCC) programs.

Juan said the coffee mills should be an integrated post harvest facilities for coffee farmers. It should include a drying facility, pulpers, roasters, among others.

Dry mills which will be set up in coffee communities will enable farmers to mill their own coffee rather than selling a lower value form of dried coffee cherries.

Green Coffee Beans (GCB) gives farmers higher incomes rather than selling just dried berries.

In coffee-producing areas where water is aplenty, wet mills will be established to help farmers improve coffee quality.

Juan noted that it has been proven in many taste tests that wet-processed coffee has an improved quality which commands a higher price per kilo.

The Philippines consumes about 65,000 metric tons of coffee while its production has been low at a range of 25,000-30,000 MT per year, brought about by declining yields due to drought and changing weather patterns.

According to Juan, the specialty coffee trade, which uses high quality coffee, has a demand of about 6,500 MT per year.

“We have good quality coffee but we have to help the farmers learn proper processing,” says Manny Torrejon, a specialty coffee roaster who also is a PCB Area Director. He noted that most farmers remain at the lowest end of the value chain for many years now and never move up because they have no facilities.

The Pilipinas Gising at Magkape (PGAM) program, a joint program of PCB and the DA-HVCC, started in 2008 and is about to enter its second phase of providing post harvest facilities and soon, to increase new plantings of the world’s second largest traded commodity which is coffee.