La Trinidad, Benguet – The Cordillera office of the Department of Agriculture (DA-CAR) urged farmers from the different parts of the province to plant coffee as a supplementary crop to ensure that they will have additional sources of income to sustain the living condition of their families in the future.
DA-CAR regional executive director Dr. Cameron Odsey stated that by planting coffee, farmers will be able to have additional sources of income aside from contributing in efforts to significantly increase the availability of Arabica coffee beans which is now in demand in the local markets.
Further, he claimed that coffee will also serve as an added erosion control along mountain slopes and will contribute in the government’s reforestation efforts.
The DA-CAR official pointed that there is an enormous demand for Arabica coffee beans in the local markets and one of the areas where the same thrives best is in the Cordillera because of the region’s peculiar weather condition, thus, farmers must learn to maximize the use of available spaces to produce the said coffee beans to help in reducing the gap between the limited supply and the rapidly increasing demand for it.
According to him, Arabica coffee beans is the most preferred by operators of coffee shops because of its aroma that serves as an invitation for people to drink coffee wherever they are and whatever the occasion they are attending.
Cordillera has been identified as one of the major producers of quality Arabica coffee beans although the production is still low and unable to meet the rapidly increasing demand from the market, thus, the need Director Odsey stipulated that with the increasing demand for the Arabica coffee beans, vegetable farmers should be encouraged to consider planting coffee within the available spaces in their farms to be able to have additional sources of income for their families in the future, especially when the coffee plants start to produce the beans that will be sold to the interested buyers not only from the local markets but also from other places.
He stipulated that farmers must take advantage of the prevailing good atmosphere to produce quality Arabica coffee beans that command a higher buying price in the market for them to be able to establish sustainable sources of income that will contribute in uplifting the living condition of their families, especially during the difficult times that had been impacted by the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
