Four coffee-producing groups in the Cordillera with enterprise development subprojects under the Department of Agriculture – Philippine Rural Development Project (DA-PRDP), joined this year’s biggest coffee expo in the Philippines which ran from September 14 to 15, 2022 at SMX Convention Center in Davao City.

The Proponent Groups (PGs) who participated were the Hojap Multipurpose Cooperative (HMPC) from Ifugao with their product Hojap Kesi-melan Coffee, the Sagada Arabica Coffee Growers and Processors Organization, Inc. (SACGPO) from Mountain Province with their product Sagada Gold, the Tuba Benguet Coffee Growers Association, Inc. (TuBengCoGa) from Benguet with their product Sijop, and the Dupligan Farmers Multipurpose Cooperative (DUFAMPCO) from Kalinga with their product Kalinga Forest Coffee.

These associations and cooperatives received enterprise support from the DA-PRDP to upgrade their coffee enterprises to uplift the living conditions of their coffee-grower members and for the development of the coffee industry in their locality.

During the two-day expo, the PGs underwent business matching activities and joined the discussions on coffee production and processing, climate change, coffee quality, marketing, the role of the Q Standard in the Philippine Specialty Coffee Sector, and everything about coffee. They also displayed their products and coffee carts open to the public.

Shirley Palao-ay of TuBengCoga said that their participation to the coffee expo was a great learning experience for them as coffee growers because they learned additional knowledge to improve their farm and marketing practices and they were also able to share and learn from the experiences of other coffee groups in the country.

Vincent Andawi of SACGPO also said that the coffee expo was a huge learning experience for them.

“We observed that the other participating groups are more advanced in terms of roasting procedures and the like and we are challenged to re-train more coffee producers not only on farm management but also on roasting and brewing practices as well,” said Andawi.

Meanwhile, Shirley Tagtag of HMPC expressed their immense gratitude to the organizers of the coffee expo for the invitation as participants and exhibitors.

“Thank you for the opportunity to learn more on how to improve our coffee enterprises especially the best practices and also in our engagements with farmers and other stakeholders,” Tagtag said.

The PGs who participated in the coffee expo further said that they are looking forward for more learning ventures where more of their coffee grower members can participate. (Elvy T. Estacio, RPCO-CAR InfoACE)