Amadeo is a municipality in Cavite that is well-known for its coffee. For decades, farming and selling coffee have sustained several families financially, and to this day, some are still relying on the same coffee trees back in the day.

In 2020, the Amadeo coffee industry almost met its demise when the Taal Volcano eruption damaged several coffee trees and when outdoor activities were limited by the COVID-19 outbreak. Not to mention, soil acidity and the conversion of agricultural lands are also continuously hindering coffee production.

Despite these, farmers and residents persist in keeping Amadeo a home for local coffee production and trading. One of them is the Café Amadeo Development Cooperative.

Café Amadeo is a group formed in 2002, which was then primarily composed of local farmers and residents in Amadeo. The group aims to improve the lives of its members by boosting the local coffee industry through processing and marketing. After years of hard work, the cooperative succeeded in stabilizing and boosting its coffee enterprise, which paved the way for it to welcome more members.

For the Café Amadeo, one of the things that led them to success was its partnership with the Department of Agriculture – Philippine Rural Development Project in 2015 on the Cavite Coffee Processing and Trading enterprise subproject. The project, costing Php 15,914,830.88, aims to upgrade and expand its existing coffee processing facility and enterprise. The subproject comprises a 400-square-meter processing plant and processing equipment such as a dehuller, sifter, sorter, roaster, grinder, and many more.

“Isang building lang ang production area namin noon. Sa halip na makabili kami ng 4-5 tons na raw materials, 1 ton lang ang nabibili namin dahil ‘yun lang ang kaya ng area namin. Ngayon kahit 20 tons, nakakapamili na kami kasi meron kaming warehouse na pag-iistockan. Hindi kami mag-aalala na mababasa o masisira ba ang kape namin,” shared Joilyn Nesperos, vice chairman of the Café Amadeo.

“Malaking bagay ‘yung roasting machine. Kasi from 10 kilos capacity na roasting machine, binigyan kami ng PRDP ng dalawang 30 kilos capacity. Sa isang oras, noon nakakaluto kami ng 10-20 kilos lang, ngayon, nakakaluto kami ng 60-120 kilos,” Nesperos added.

After a few years, the volume of production of Café Amadeo’s blended coffee increased by 63% from 39,479.81 kilograms a year to 64,484.78 kilograms. This entailed a significant increase in income.

“Sa isang buwan, ang nabebenta lang namin dati ay Php 2-3 milyon. Ngayon, umaabot na kami, pataas na sya Php 3-4 milyon na. Ngayon, nag-iistandardize na kami ng Php 5 milyon pataas. Nakapagdagdag din kami ng employees, kung dati 12-15 lang kami, ngayon kami ay 42 na,” shared Agnes Madlansacay, general manager of the Café Amadeo.

The expansion of Café Amadeo’s coffee processing operations and income also led to the generation of jobs in the locality. From 15 employees, the Café Amadeo now has 42 employees, most of them working in the coffee processing plant. Farmer-members and employees’ non-farm income also increased by 5% because they ventured into reselling and other marketing activities.

“Ang epekto, unang-una, ay naging malaki ‘yung interest ng share ng mga miyembro. ‘Yung mga farmer naman, nahikayat sila na sumali sa Café Amadeo. Nahikayat din silang mag-market nang sarili nila, nagbebenta sila online, kaya, tumataas rin ‘yung mga orders na napasok samin,” shared Agnes Madlansacay.

“Nung pandemic po, naisipan ko pong magbenta online dahil mahirap kumita. Dati, Php 10,000 lang ang kinikikita ko, pero ngayong taong ito, nasa Php 100,000 na ang kita ko sa Shopee. Nakabili po kami ng lupa, bahay, at mga gamit sa bahay,” shared Maria Cassandra Cruz, employee of the Café Amadeo.

Now that the Café Amadeo is able to continuously operate on a larger scale and has a bigger capacity to store and process raw materials, local coffee farmers were given hope to revitalize their production since they are assured of a market for their harvests.

“Sa katunayan po, maraming magsasaka ang nagtatanong kung mayroong mga pananim, dahil gusto nilang maibalik ‘yung sigla ng pagkakape dito sa Amadeo. Natutuwa kami dito sa Agriculture Office dahil may mga farmers pa rin pong interesadong magtanim ng kape dahil dyan po kami nagsimula sa pag-unlad sa Amadeo,” shared Celsa Honrada, municipal agriculturist of Amadeo.

“Dati, ang primary crops ng Amadeo ay kape. Pero humina ang loob naming mga farmer katulad ko dahil bumaba nang bumaba ‘yung presyo e, tapos mahal nang mahal ‘yung abono. Pero noong magkaroon ng Café Amadeo, nabuhay uli ‘yung kagustuhan namin na magtanim ng kape lalo pa nga na alam mong may pupuntahan,” shared May Leachon, farmer-member of the Café Amadeo.

Through the subproject, 68% more farmers were reached by agricultural assets and services. Their engagement and productivity with marketing and technical services increased by 99%.

“Binibigyan kami ng DA ng mga pananim. Tinuturo sa amin kung paano aayusin ang kape, kung papaano ‘yung mga peste, kung paano mapupuksa. Lahat tinuturo sa amin. Kung minsan nga naayudahan pa kami ng abono,” shared Carlos Baualan, farmer-member of the Café Amadeo.

Aside from the coffee processing and trading enterprise, what keeps farmers, residents, and the local government inspired and committed to their resolve are their milestones and continuous collaboration to revive their vibrant local coffee industry.

While the Café Amadeo continues its research on new coffee blends and maintains its processing and business operations, the local government will continue to help farmers improve the volume and quality of their production by providing seeds and training.

Meanwhile, to keep the enterprise project sustainable and bring forth further progress in the coffee industry, the DA-PRDP will continue to guide the Café Amadeo and fund more similar projects as it transitions to DA-PRDP Scale-Up next year.#