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Philippine plans to get back into the coffee market |
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26/4/2011: The Philippine Government has revealed its plan to build 21 new coffee processing centres around the country in an attempt to revive its ailing coffee industry.
Once one of the world's leading coffee exporters, today the country has fallen into a position of relative obscurity, especially when compared to prolific neighbouring producers Vietnam and Indonesia.
Now the government is making a concerted effort to rebuild its market position and capitalise on the burgeoning domestic and international demand for coffee.
“Coffee was once one of the top crops being grown by farmers, but now there is revived interest in growing coffee because of its high demand abroad," Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization executive director Ricardo Cachuela told the Philippine online publication GMA News.
Nearly two thirds of the new processing centres will be built in the Cordillera Autonomous Region in the countries north, which specialises in the production of organic beans. This concentration is reflective of a policy of promoting specialty, premium products for export and to service the country's growing domestic cafe culture.
History of the Phillipine bean
Coffee was introduced into what is now the Batangas province of the Philippines in 1740 by a Spanish Franciscan monk. Production flourished throughout the region and by the mid 1800s coffee was being exported to America via San Francisco.
The construction of the Suez Canal opened up a new European market.
In light of the Batangas success farmers in the nearby Cavite province began to plant the crop and by 1880 the Philippines was the world's fourth largest exporter of coffee.
When the coffee rust disease hit South America, Africa and Indonesia during the 1880s the Phillippenes was briefly catapulted to the position of the world's number one supplier. This ended in 1889 when the dreaded plant disease reached their shores.
Due to the highly concentrated nature of their coffee growing (most farms were in the Batangas province) the industry was hit hard, with production dropping to a sixth of its original amount within in two years of the disease's arrival.
With the aid of the U.S. government a new disease resistant crop was introduced in the 1950s, and with the popularity of instant coffee many farmers began to grow coffee to service the high worldwide demand. But the rapid proliferation of coffee farms around the globe led to a coffee glut, and the Philippene government banned imports to protect farmers.
In recent years production has been hampered the drought which plagued the country throughout 2009, believed to be the result of the El Niño phenomenon.
The Philippines is distinguished among coffee producing countries because its varied topography, climactic and soil conditions allow for the growth of not just Arabica and Robusta, but also the less well-know Excelsa and Liberica varieties. The latter, known by the locals as 'Barako', is favoured by many Phillipinos for its strong flavour.
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