As part of the Pilipinas! Gising at Magkape Program (Philippines! Wake Up and Have Coffee) of the Philippine Coffee Board Inc (PCBI) and the Department of Agriculture, small coffee farmers now benefit by gaining market access to coffee shops and restaurants and other institutional users of Philippine coffee.

The trademark owned by the Philippine Coffee Board is Kape Isla, 100% Excellent Philippine Coffee. The seal of Kape Isla can be found on all board-certified coffees, small farm coffees that are marketed by the 8-year old NGO.

The Board has a store at Serendra also called KAPE ISLA where it sells many kinds of coffees from the Cordilleras, Cavite, Mindanao as well as famous roaster brands like Kalinga Brew, Siete Baracos, Café Amadeo, Batangas Harvest and Cordillera Coffee.

The Coffee Board and the Department of Agriculture has been promoting Philippine Coffee since it signed a Memorandum of Agreement in October 2008 to rehabilitate coffee farms in 22 provinces and to expand coffee areas through new plantings of the four varieties found in the country – Arabica, Robusta, Excelsa and Liberica (Barako). From the harvest of only the ripest coffee cherries to planting of more trees, the two entities have coordinated to help small coffee farmers improve farming technologies, apply organic fertilizers and rehabilitate their old coffee farms to increase yields from the average of 300 kilos per hectare to hopefully 400-600 kilos per hectare.

The Philippines has been a net importer of over 30,000 Metric tons worth about P3 billion of coffee a year, mainly due to increasing consumption as population increases and as lifestyles change to a 24/7 work schedule due to call centers, BPOs and other lifestyle trends. Most of the imports from Vietnam and Indonesia go to instant coffee manufacturers, another segment of the coffee market that is steadily growing as instant coffee is convenient to prepare and to consume. The local production is at a low volume of just over 25,000 Metric Tons, which the Board and the Department of Agriculture hope to increase by 5000 Metric tons a year until 2015.

"We have six area directors who handle the coffee growing areas from Benguet up to Mindanao, " says Chit Juan, PCB Co-Chair and PGAM Program Director. "They look for small farms who need a lot of technical assistance and whose produce never get to the mainstream market due to lack of marketing contracts or lack of economies of scale for logistics," she continues. "We connect the small farmers to our KAPE ISLA network of roasters and processors," Juan proudly states, "so they can enjoy better prices and so they will be encouraged to continue planting coffee," she reiterates.

The PGAM Area directors coordinate with each region's DA-HVCC regional coordinators so that the needed assistance will reach the most deserving communities. The next project, after rehabilitation, is for post harvest equipment and wet process mills to reach the small farmers and their cooperatives or associations. "Wet process" coffee gets better value as they are sold to specialty roasters compared to coffees dried in the sun and processed just for soluble coffee.
Restaurants and cafes will soon get KAPE ISLA seals on their coffees to ensure that these coffees are helping local farmers. The Coffee Board sells its coffees through its main store, the DA's Agrimart Export Showroom and at events in Manila's business districts where free-flowing KAPE ISLA coffees are usually served . At the recent Makati Business Club lunches presenting presidential candidates Aquino, Villar and Teodoro last February, KAPE ISLA coffee was served to the elite MBC members.

The Coffee Board also launched a "PICK RED" harvest activity in Benguet State University last February to teach farmers how to improve coffee quality by only picking coffee cherries that are ripe and are of a good cupping profile, a standard the farmers were briefed on. "They used to pick all the cherries in one go," says North Luzon Area Director Manny Torrejon," and these resulted in some coffee having off flavors. Coffee must be picked only at the peak of ripeness when it is cherry red in color (although some exceptions are orange in color), " he continues. Torrejon is a professional roaster who is tasked with sample roasting and tasting all the coffees the Board picks from the different coffee-growing areas.

The Board envisions to reach many small farms some as remote as Bokod in La Trinidad, Benguet where farmers were oriented on pest management and rejuvenation of old coffee trees by Professor Andres Basalong of the Benguet State University. Many Arabica farmers in Benguet merely inherited the trees from their forefathers as these were planted over 80 years ago, and have not seen pruning or rehabilitation for many years. "We distributed organic fertilizers so that farmers will take care of their farms again," says Nicky Matti, PCB Co-Chair who also handles the Visayas program sites in Iloilo, Negros Occidental and Oriental.

The Board hopes that the Department of Agriculture will continue its plans of having a follow-up program to rejuvenate the old coffee trees and to increase plantations at the rate of 4 Million new trees a year, all over the country. With increased yields or the national average going up to about 700 kilos per hectare (as compared to Vietnam's 1-3 tons per hectare), and 4 mIllion new trees planted every year, the Philippine Coffee Board hopes to reach its goal of self-sufficiency in coffee by the year 2015. The Pilipinas ! Gising at Magkape Program would then be a testimonial to positive results gained when private sector and government work towards the same vision.

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(Chit Juan is the Co-Chair of the Philippine Coffee Board Inc. and has been a staunch coffee advocate for over 15 years now. She also founded Figaro Coffee Company where she was in active management for until 2008 when she stepped down as CEO to become active in NGO work through the Philippine Coffee Board. You can e-mail her at philcoffeeboard@gmail.com)