The Philippine Coffee Board Inc. (PCBI) has proposed to allocate funds from the coconut levy fund for coffee production intercropped underneath coconut trees.
Pacita Juan, PCBI president and co-chair, told reporters in a briefing in Amadeo, Cavite on Monday government may opt to spend at least P600 million a year in a span of 10 years to produce enough coffee seedlings to help the country become self-sufficient.
The group said funding may be secured from the P100-billion coco levy fund managed by the Philippine Coconut Authority.
PCBI said demand for coffee is between 150,000 metric tons (MT) and 200,000 MT while production is only at around 30,000 MT to 33,000 MT, with the balance of 120,000 MT filled by imports.
PCBI said the national average of coffee production in the Philippines is between 500 and 700 kilograms per hectare.
Juan said intercropping coffee with coconut is a viable solution since only 171,428 hectares (ha) of land is needed to be able to locally produce the 120,000 MT of coffee , which in turn would replace imports.
Based on current records, the country has over 3 million ha of land planted with coconut.
Juan said PCA can look into 120,000 has of land in Calabarzon to produce 1,000 seedlings per hectare.
PCBI said that formal talks with the PCA on the proposed plan will start by June. The group will come up with a model pilot farm by April and May.
