Reviving the Local Coffee Industry
The Figaro Foundation has been at the forefront of many activities to revive a once dwindling and dying industry.
Nothing beats drinking a hot cup of freshly brewed coffee in the morning. Indeed, coffee is an integral part of the day of many people. Sadly, news about a dwindling coffee industry has left many wondering: what happens next? Two hundred years ago, we were one of the top coffee producers in the world. Today, our production does not even account for 1% of the world production.
In the early 1800’s the Spaniards introduced coffee to take advantage of the ideal growing conditions in the country. This, coupled with the vast tracks of land devoted to coffee, turned the country into a major player in the world coffee industry. However, the industry was devastated by the coffee rust blight. This allowed South American countries like Brazil to fill the vacuum. The industry was able to rebound as late as 1986 when the country earned US$15o million coffee. Lately the industry has experienced a slow decline with our coffee exports only amounting to US$500,000.
In the year 2000 Figaro’s CEO Pacita “Chit” Juan established the Figaro Foundation to help revive the country’s ailing coffee industry. According to Juan, she got the idea for the foundation after visiting coffee farms in 1998. This was part of the Department of Trade and Industry’s campaign to inform coffee players about the plight of the industry.
Figaro’s CEO Pacita “Chit” Juan, spearheads the coffee-planting activities to help revive the ailing coffee industry.
During those trips, she realized that the farmers weren’t planting coffee because of their pessimism with the industry’s future.
Following that trip, Juan decided that as a player in the coffee industry, she had a stake in ensuring its survival. Thus, she sourced out all of her stores’ local coffee supplies. This, aside from helping the farmers, also gave her an advantage because this meant that her coffee was always fresh. Later on, she decided to establish a foundation that will help promote Philippine coffee. To prepare for this, she undertook extensive research on coffee such as coffee types and varieties and took in the services of Father Roger, a priest who happens to be an expert in coffee, as her consultant. Upon establishing the foundation, they decided to concentrate on turning the barako variety as the instrument for the industry’s revival.
They chose the barako variety because of its connection to traditional Filipino culture. Before the advent of instant coffee, barako was the most common coffee variety in the country. When the multi-national companies introduced instant coffee, farmers stopped planting barako in lieu of faster growing and more common but less profitable robusta coffee. It can be said that barako’s status and the coffee brewing culture of the country was terribly lamed by the growing popularity of instant coffee.
So with just 20 people, Figaro’s Chit Juan set out to revive the country’s coffee industry. They began by conducting a coffee tree planting project in a tract of land in Tagaytay. Unfortunately, the land was lost in a land grabbing incident. When they tried to plant coffee trees in the SVD compound again; the said land was sold. In 2000, Fr. Roger took Juan to Amadeo, Cavite where the Cavite State University stood. There she was introduced to Dr. Alejandro Mojika and Mayor OJ Ambagan. They would later play an important role in Juan’s campaign.
Impressed with Juan’s advocacy, Mayor Ambagan donated a two-hectare tract of land to the foundation’s coffee planting activities. This also started the foundation’s collaboration with LGUs. From then on, word of the foundation’s advocacy soon spread along with the revival of the barako variety. Soon, the Barako Pilot Farm in Amadeo became popular and Mayor Ambagan was convinced to expand the coffee farming project. In turn, the Figaro Foundation decided to pay a premium to farmers selling the barako variety.
Capitalizing on the success of the project in Amadeo, the foundation then launched the Adopt-aCoffee Farm project to encourage barako production. They also had a coffee cart placed in Batasan, in cooperation with the congressional spouses. Other carts were also opened in areas like GMA-7. They also continued their coffee-planting projects in various parts of the country, the most recent of which was held in Bailen Cavite on August 18, 2007.These efforts in increasing awareness for barako soon bore fruit.
Ms. Juan says since two years ago, the sales of barako seedlings was on a steady increase. According to her, what gives this variety its distinct taste and quality is its larger bean. Among other local companies actively buying the barako variety is Siete Barakos whose products are sold in supermarkets. Barako is also exported to the Middle East today because the Arabs have discovered its unique, strong flavor and aroma. Local demand for coffee last year stands at 65,000 tons compared to the local production of 30,000 tons. Aside from this, Figaro also sponsors coffee orientation tours as well as the annual Pahimis Festival.
Amadeo was also the birthplace of the Philippine Coffee Board that has helped a lot in promoting barako coffee. Since its creation, the board has helped cultivate and plant coffee in some 22,00o hectares of land and promised to create around 88,000 jobs.
The Save the Barako campaign isn’t the only activity the Figaro Foundation is engaged in. It also has a Wild About Organic Program that aims to promote organic coffee. The idea from the program came when Juan attended a conference on organic food in East Africa. There she saw how African Robusta was sold at a higher price because they are organically grown. She also observed that while the National Coffee Development Board offers fertilizer loans, very few applied because the farmers earned very little from their crops. These factors helped convince her to encourage farmers to go organic.
Ms. Juan also opened a vermiculture facility in Cavite to help provide organic fertilizer. She says that organic coffee can help boost Philippine coffee exports to countries like US and the European Union. One of the reasons, she said why coffee exports haven’t really been soaring is because our increased local demand couldn’t really cope with our low production. To enter the lucrative organic market, the Figaro president said Philippine coffee has to be accredited by an organic consultant. This they soon found in the person of Dr. Roland Ferstl from the German organic certifier Naturland.
The result of the organic coffee accreditation process was the Kape Isla brand. The brand highlights coffee grown in the country. In cooperation with the National Coffee Development Board, the first coffee festival was organized in Greenbelt Juan said that the Kape Isla brand also serves as the accrediting body for organic local coffee. She says “Organic coffee is a way of increasing the crop value of farmers.” She said farmers enrolled in Figaro Foundation accreditation program could get a 10% premium for their produce. Juan said the program benefits farmers who have the dedication to raise the bar of Philippine coffee.
But far from resting on its laurels, the Figaro Foundation continues to develop projects aimed at directing the development of the local coffee industry. In fact. last August 23-24 2007 the foundation, in cooperation with the Benguet State University, conducted a coffee planting project in Benguet. As part of its Wild About Organic campaign. Another tree planting activity General Aguinaldo. (formerly Baiien) was also conducted last month.
Figaro’s Chit Juan couldn’t have said it better: “There is beauty and virtue in buying local coffee.
