BACOLOD City – The Negros Occidental Provincial Coffee Council was recently formed to address the industry’s concerns with the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist as chair.
Senior Trade and Industry Development specialist Engr. Engiemar Tupas of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) -Negros Occidental said Thomas Sproten of Coffee Culture Roastery was elected as co-chair of the council with the DTI as the vice chair.
Sproten will be representing the private sector in the council both at the provincial and regional levels, he added.
There are about 3,000 coffee farmers across the province with the bigger harvest coming from the southern part of Negros Occidental: municipality of Candoni, Hinobaan, Ilog, Cauayan, Kabankalan City and Sipalay City areas.
He said members in the council will lead in advancing the coffee industry in the province that produces mostly arabica with robusta coming in second.
“If you follow the trend, the Philippines is the number one consumer of soluble coffee or instant coffee,” he said.
The country is also the world’s 5th largest importer of instant coffee.
The main challenge, Tupas said, is to capture a share of coffee consumers so that they shift from instant to brewed coffee thereby benefitting the local farmers and strengthen the coffee industry.
He said there is a need to balance the supply and demand as more coffee shops sprout in the province.
The deficit is locally supplied by produce from Iloilo, Mindanao, and Benguet.
At the moment, the Department of Agriculture is giving free seeds to coffee farmers in Negros Occ. to boost their production. (PIA/PN)
