The Philippine Coffee Board Inc. (PCBI) said it is stepping up efforts to save the Liberica variety (barako) from extinction in the local coffee industry amid the damages caused by the recent Taal Volcano eruption.
PCBI said the initiatives being taken include the production of seedlings from surviving trees, location of possible areas for propagation outside Calabarzon and encouraging the youth to take up coffee farming.
‘‘We’ve estimated that there is 40 percent production loss of Barako in terms of harvest this year… What we are going to do with the remaining harvestable product is we will preserve roughly 1/3 of that for seeds. We will not consume and roast them,’’ Guillermo Luz, PCBI founding trustee, told reporters in a briefing yesterday.
According to latest data from the Philippine Statistics Authority, the country produced 496.37 metric tons (MT) of Liberica coffee beans in 2018.
Luz said while it will take some time, the group is scouting for areas in Cavite and Batangas which can grow Barako coffee as well as possible plantations in Visayas and Mindanao, particularly in Sulu and Basilan.
‘‘It’s a crisis but a unique opportunity… We feel that with the supply cut and modest spike in the price of Barako over the medium term, farmers will be more encouraged to get into that bean because it is prized,’’ he said.
Rene Tongson, PCBI director, mentioned that based on initial assessments, P600 million worth of coffee beans whose value can go up to a billion peso mark after processing were damaged by the volcanic eruption in Calabarzon.
Tongson added that next year’s production of coffee beans from the area will also be affected as most of the plants will not be capable of flowering this year.
Alejandro Mojica, PCBI director, said the effect to production was substantial as the harvest of Barako coffee beans lasts from December to February, and these are planted during May to June.
According to Mojica, Batangas and Cavite account for 15 percent or roughly 5,000 MT of the total coffee production in the country as around 755 hectares of land in these areas are dedicated for coffee growing.
Luz clarified that the eruption of Taal will have little effect on the pricing of other coffee varieties in the Philippines since it is a commodity that can be sourced from abroad. However, he warned that local Barako farmers will suffer if nothing will be done to preserve this variety.
‘‘I believe that its effect will not be so much on prices because coffee is an importable product. If we run short on supply of Barako, people might switch their preference for another coffee… The bigger impact is loss of farmers’ income because consumers will be able to get another source but the one who will benefit from that is foreign farmers,’’ he explained.
Pacita Juan, PCBI president, said efforts to encourage the younger generation to get into coffee farming is aimed at keeping the Barako variety alive in the Philippines as it is the country’s trademark bean and for the entire coffee industry to be more active.
PCBI is a non-profit organization dedicated to the development and promotion of the local coffee industry through projects that can provide technical assistance, credit and marketing of coffee for domestic and export consumption.
