A brighter future for coffee is in the horizon with new projects that the Provincial Local Government is planning to implement to boost the coffee industry.

One of this big ticket projects is the P2.1 million worth coffee data profiling project to be funded by DA-PRDP under IPLAN subcomponent 1.2. The Province of Sultan Kudarat has also committed P1.5 million as an additional fund for the data gathering, and Gov. Datu Pax Ali Mangudadatu shared his plan of establishing a model Robusta coffee farm in Sultan Kudarat.

As part of his advocacy to promote SK Coffee, Gov. Mangudadatu strengthened the convergence of different coffee stakeholders as he gathered them in an inter-convergence activity last August 26, 2022.

The inter-agency activity sought to augment and complement the different interventions for coffee in the province to broaden it to the whole region. The Department of Agriculture Philippine Rural Development Project (DA-PRDP) was among those invited to participate in the coffee initiative.

Based on data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) in the period from January to March 2022, SOCCSKSARGEN was the top coffee-producing region with an output of 6.26 thousand metric tons which is equivalent to 33.6% of the country’s total coffee production. At least 70% of the region’s coffee output is from the Province of Sultan Kudarat which represents 23% of the country’ total production.

According to Sultan Kudarat and Region 12 Coffee Council Chairman Ronan Garcia, the province has long since initiated the convergence of different key industry players which resulted in the creation of the province’s coffee council. The participation of DA-PRDP translated their efforts into the inter-agency convergence which identified and highlighted the role of each agency in the initiative.

“We had a MOA signing that defined the role of each agency. The Province of Sultan Kudarat through the leadership of Gov. Pax Ali Mangudadatu claimed ownership of this and gave his full support. This is the reason behind our strong partnership with other related agencies and farmers,” said Garcia.

Coffee farmers also had an active participation where they identify the gaps in the coffee value chain while the different agencies for their part will identify the appropriate interventions to be provided in order to fill these gaps.

“Each agency has its own mandate but there is a need to have a leader that will unite them towards a single goal and that’s exactly the reason why we created our coffee council and this convergence. The all-out support of Gov. Datu Pax is definitely a unifying factor that brings all of these agencies together,” added Garcia.

Gov. Mangudadatu shared some positive updates to the members of the convergence.

“The requested budget for the data gathering worth P1.5 million is already approved and funds will surely be available within the next five days,” said Gov. Mangudadatu. “I also received the commitment of the 4Ps Partylist who will provide financial assistance to our farmers. Lastly, I am planning to establish a model Robusta coffee farm here in Sultan Kudarat to be owned and managed by the province to see the actual outcome of the plan realized following all the best practices in coffee farming,”

DA 12 OIC Regional Executive Director Dennis Arpia lauded the support given by the local chief executive given that not all local government units are hands-on when it comes to matters pertaining to agriculture.

“The DA is happy to see the very aggressive and proactive engagement of PLGU Sultan Kudarat to ensure the sustainability of all our plans for our coffee farmers. We are very lucky here because it is the LGU itself that leads the partnership among stakeholders,” said Dir. Arpia. “It’s good to see that all hands are on deck and we can see how we can all collaborate with one another. Indeed, this is such a great honor.”

Recently, the members of the inter-agency convergence convened to sign their pledge of commitment to support the development of the coffee industry in Sultan Kudarat.

The agencies who committed to the convergence initiative are the Provincial Agriculturist Office, Municipal Agriculture Offices, Mahintana Foundation, ACDI/VOCA, TESDA Sultan Kudarat, PEF,NCIP, DTI, DOST, ATI, DENR XII, SALAAM Police Center, PSA Sultan Kudarat, PCIC RFO XII, RCPCO RFO XII, SUCs,Provincial Engineering Office SK, DBP Tacurong Branch, DA-PRDP PSO Mindanao and RPCO XII.

The coffee profiling project will start by September 2022 after which, the province will come up with a road map for the coffee in Sultan. Kudarat. (Joy Montecalvo)