MARCH 2, 2013

NR # 3031

Solon discloses brewing tension in the coffee industry

A lawmaker has called for a congressional inquiry into reports that there is brewing tension between the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the National Competitive Council (NCC) on the issue of which has presented a good master plan for the coffee industry in the country. Rep. Teddy Casio (Party-list, Bayan Muna), author of House Resolution 3011, said the High Value Crops Development Program (HVCDP) of the DA has come up with a Coffee Master Plan initially presented on October 8, 2012. Casio said the plan was crafted by coffee industry stakeholders, farmers, processors manufacturers, exporters, industry associations, peoples organizations, and by the academe. Casio said the plan was fully supported by the DA and facilitated by the Center for Food and Agribusiness of the University of Asia and the Pacific. The master plan is thorough, well-researched, and represents a cross-section of the different stakeholders of the coffee industry from Luzon to Mindanao, Casio said. However, Casio said the NCC master plan that was presented on October 31, 2012 has basically given the mandate to prepare a road map for the Philippine coffee industry to Nestle Philippines. The NCC was formed in October 2006 as a Public-Private Task Force on Philippine Competitiveness by virtue of Presidential Executive Order 571 to address the improvement of the countrys competitiveness from the bottom third of competitiveness rankings to the top third by 2010. There should only be one coherent and comprehensive Philippine coffee industry master plan that is primarily steeped towards improving the lives and livelihood of small and medium coffee growers/producers and processors of Philippine coffee over multinational coffee companies like Nestle. Casio said. It is the least perplexing that there is an apparent duplication of efforts for the coffee industry, Casio said. Casio also noted the apparent decline of coffee annual growth rate despite of the government granting funding support to coffee initiatives. According to the Philippine Coffee Board (PCB) statements to the media, it

appears that the government has been granting funding support to coffee initiatives despite the absence of a single coherent coffee industry plan, Casio said. Casio said the DA has spent P50 million in 2008, P100, million in 2009, and P200 million in 2010 for the rehabilitation and expansion of coffee farms in the country. The Aquino administration has allotted P192 million for coffee and cacao production in 2012. Casio said the government is not making a dent to reduce the P3 billion worth of coffee imports per year to meet local demands. This shows that the government has been wasting money due to the absence of a plan and the apparent duplication of efforts to come up with an industry roadmap, Casio said. In order to improve smallholder coffee farmers productivity, profitability and product quality, the promotion of new plantings with appropriate government support is needed to enable the sector to increase production and churn out innovative Filipino coffee products. This necessitates that government come up with an integrated coffee industry master plan, Casio said. (30) sb