More coffee areas eyed to meet demand

THE PHILIPPINE Coffee Board, Inc. is eyeing the expansion of areas for planting coffee to bring production levels closer to demand.

Alejandro C. Mojica, consultant at the private sector-led Philippine Coffee Board told reporters on the sidelines of the opening of the food and beverage trade fair AsiaFood Expo yesterday that they are identifying areas for the expansion of coffee production as the country’s output is unable to meet demand.

“The Philippine Coffee Board continues to promote the expansion and the additional production of coffee,” he said.

Mr. Mojica said the areas they are considering as potential sites for expansion are Bataan, Benguet, Kalinga, Palawan and provinces in Mindanao.

Targets

The aim, he said, is to find an additional 50,000 hectares for planting coffee to increase production.

Philippine Coffee Board Chairman Pacita U. Juan said in a text message yesterday that areas planted with coffee cover about 70,000 hectares at present.

“If that [additional 50,000 hectares] would produce half a ton per hectare, then that would mean an additional 25,000 metric tons (MT) [for coffee production],” Mr. Mojica said.

He noted that coffee production for the last crop year was at 25,000 MT compared to the country’s demand at 65,000 MT.

“We think that if we can expand the area, we can reduce the gap between production and demand,” he said.

For the current crop year, he said, they expect coffee production to reach between 28,000 MT to 30,000 MT.

“We are hoping production will be better because of good rains,” he said.
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By: Louella D. Desiderio
Source: Business World, Sept. 7, 2011
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