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BY GLENDA SOLOGASTOA
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ILOILO – Citing the high demand for coffee and cocoa products, the provincial government and Panay Organic Producers Association (POPA) are pushing for a massive planting of coffee and cocoa.
Gov. Arthur Defensor Sr. recently conferred with POPA officials and members and came up with this plan.
“Kay subong tama kadako sang demand sa Europe sang kape kag cocoa. In fact, a big company (Nestlé) buys coffee and cocoa from nearby Malaysia,” said Defensor.
Local farmers who attended the meeting were quite excited about the proposed massive coffee and cocoa planting, said the governor.
Today, stakeholders are meeting to discuss further the planting.
“So many towns have uplands suitable for cultivation and planting of cocoa and coffee,” said Defensor.
Among the stakeholders of the program are the Department of Agriculture, Provincial Agriculture Office, and League of Municipalities of the Philippines-Iloilo.
The Philippines imports about 100,000 metric tons of coffee beans worth P10 billion annually mainly from Vietnam, and some 20,000 MT of cocoa beans worth $42 million from Africa, according to the Department of Agriculture (DA).
In 2012, the DA allocated P192 million to boost coffee and cocoa production through a new plantation and several agribusiness zones.
Farmers in Vietnam, the world’s largest coffee producer with a total of 1.4 million metric tons a year, practice intensive fertilization that can produce at least 30 kilos per hectare. They prune their trees and inspect diseases of individual coffee trees daily.
In contrast, the Philippines produces only 25,000 metric tons of coffee a year./PN
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