Import lib: Final nail in coffee growers' coffin.

Asia Africa Intelligence Wire
 | January 11, 2003 | Copyright
(From Philippine Daily Inquirer)
Byline: Mei Magsino
(Third of a series)
LIPA CITY-According to studies conducted by the Figaro Foundation Corp., the Philippines was earning at least $150 million a year in coffee exports.
Coffee had always been one of the country's biggest dollar earners until 10 years ago.
About 200 years ago, the Philippines was on the list of the world's top coffee producers-as the fourth largest coffee-producing nation. And the biggest coffee producer used to be Lipa, Batangas.
Today, the Philippines produces only .012 percent of the world's coffee supply and even imports more than what the country used to export.
The country now makes only around $500,000 a year from coffee and only 10 percent of the yearly harvest is exported.
The fact that coffee production has dropped is odd, considering that the local demand for coffee increases by 3 percent each year.
The local demand for the year 2000 was 60 million kilograms. Production, however, was a mere 45 million kg.
Pricing woes
Figaro's study cited two major causes of the death of the coffee industry.
One is that the local coffee growers had no control over their coffee prices. The world price and the big local buyers dictate the local price. As such, there is no way the farmers can guarantee themselves a profit.
The second major reason, according to the Figaro study, was the conversion of the once-rich coffee plantations into industrial, commercial or residential land.
Like in Lipa, most of the lands that used to be coffee plantations were transformed into commercial, piggery, poultry and subdivisions.
The technology problem was also cited as one of the causes of the death of the coffee industry. In many coffee countries, coffee production is largely mechanized, cutting down on time and labor cost.
Declining hectarage
In the Philippines, except for the larger coffee farms, nearly everything is done by hand, which is labor and time intensive. The smaller farmers cannot afford even the most basic machines like hullers.
Infrastructure is another problem. There are not enough farm-to-market roads. Thus, getting the yield to the markets is difficult.
As a result, many farmers whose families have planted coffee for generations have sold their land or have switched to planting more profitable crops.
In the last 10 years, the country lost about 80,000 hectares of coffee farms. Only about 120,000 ha of productive coffee land remain, mostly concentrated in the mountains of Batangas, Bukidnon, Benguet, Cavite, Kalinga-Apayao, Davao and Claveria.
The biggest problem has emerged with the lifting of the ban on coffee importation. Local farmers are worried that it may put a severe dent on the demand for locally produced coffee.
About 60,000 to 80,000 coffee families are left but their number continue to fall. Thus, the Figaro Coffee Co. created the Figaro Foundation Corp. whose thrust is to boost coffee production and provide aid to the last remaining coffee families.
Boosting production
"Our effort might look like a drop in a bucket," Chit Juan, Figaro director, said, "But we know that we will gain wider and stronger support if we just continue to revive the coffee industry. We started the move to revive the Barako in 1998. On April 2002, after four years of hard work, President Macapagal-Arroyo called us to Malacanang to start the National Task Force on Coffee." (To be continued)