CEBU CITY - In order to further develop the country's coffee industry, coffee farmers are encouraged to set up their own coffee business, an industry official said.
''Given the right support, education and technology, our own coffee industry can be among the world's best,'' said Philippine Coffee Board Inc. (PCBI) Vice Chairman Pacita Juan.
She added that coffee farmers have a huge potential to grow their business given the trend of increasing coffee shops in the Philippines.
Juan bared that PCBI is presently raising P90 million to help fund 32 coffee mills around the country that will be used to properly process coffee beans in order to meet the annual Philippine demand of 65,000 metric tons of coffee beans.
Due to the lack of supply, the Philippines is importing at least 30,000 metric tons of coffee beans from different parts of the world.
''As of today, most coffee beans are grown in the backyard. But if these coffee farmers pool their resources together, they can easily start their own coffee shop,'' she said in an interview with reporters recently.
The growing market trend is now into producing organic coffee, an edge most backyard farmers have, added Juan.
''Most of our coffees are organic by default,'' Juan said, where she noted that in other countries, organic coffee beans are sold expensively.
According to Juan, the coffee farming industry of India and Vietnam for instance is worth a P3 billion industry because farmers have seen the commercial potential of coffee farming.
Citing industry records, Juan said that the Philippines used to be the fourth largest producer of coffee worldwide sometime in the 1800s.
