Café Amadeo showcase capabilities in 11th World Bank Mission

Date Published: January 10, 2021

The Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP) in CALABARZON region showcases the coffee enterprise subproject of Café Amadeo Development Cooperative (CADC) during Proponent Group (PG) consultation of the 11th World Bank Implementation Support Mission.

Officials from the cooperative together with Regional Project Director Vilma Dimaculangan and I-REAP Component staff attended virtually last November 20. A video presentation was viewed first by the World Bank team as well as the enterprise documents before they interviewed CADC.

Shown in the video is their coffee production process, facilities and equipment procured by PRDP, enterprise information, and testimonials from members and officers of CADC. This was produced by the Information, Advocacy, Communication, and Education Unit of PRDP CALABARZON.

With dwindling lands for coffee production and increased demand for coffee products, 20 Amadeo residents who are engaged in milling, production, trading, and farming started in June 28, 2002 a cooperative that will allow them to better transact with other traders and buyers for higher price. Thus, the Café Amadeo Development Cooperative (CADC) was born.  

“With this cooperative, we are able to help revive the coffee industry of Amadeo. We have pooled our resources to start our dried coffee beans trading business. This industry has been here for generations. Most of us were able to build families and ensure the future of new generations to coffee. That is why we are forever thankful to coffee,” CADC Chairperson Generoso Bunyi said.

Aside from the trading business, they also ventured out to coffee processing, resulting to the enterprise which are they currently known for. According to CADC General Manager Ma. Agnes Madlangsacay, their most famous coffee blend, the pahimis blend, was introduced to them by a chemist. When they tried it, they fell in love with it and has been continuously improving the pahimis blend.

“Our coffee blend, particulary the pahimis blend, has unique taste because it is a combination of Arabica, Robusta, Liberica, and Excelsa varieties. In just one cup, you can taste all the coffee grown in the Philippines,” Chairperson Bunyi stated.

With their increasing market and expanding opportunities that can be shared to more people, the CADC management decided to open up their membership to others, even non-coffee farmers. “We started as a cooperative solely for coffee growers. However, the group decided to open it also to individuals who may not be farmers, but are supportive of the coffee industry,” Chairperson Bunyi added.

This decision has been proven good during the community quarantine brought about by COVID-19 pandemic. With foot traffic to their pasalubong center and coffee shop dropping to zero and institutional buyers cancelling their orders, the management has decided to tap their members for online selling. “If the member wants to sell our products but do not have the money to buy it first from us, we provide the products first then when they are able to sell it, that’s the time we get the money from them. Thus, it allows them to circulate their investment and be able to buy more products from us. Likewise, we know they can do it because we believe in our coffee products,” Manager Madlangsacay said.

Currently, institutional buyers are slowly returning as well as the walk-in customers. Coupled with the increasing sales traffic through online means, their products are now available anywhere in the Philippines.

Aside from this, the CADC also help their coffee members to whether not only the COVID-19 pandemic but also the Taal Volcano eruption earlier this year and the typhoons affecting the region one after another. They provide fertilizers to them through a delayed payment scheme as well as buying their produce in higher price that what are being offered by traders. # (Lawrence Albert Bariring, DA-PRDP CALABARZON RPCO InfoACE Unit)

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