By Ellalyn De Vera-Ruiz
Opportunities came for coffee farmers in Surigao del Sur after the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) led an investment forum for the agrarian reform beneficiaries.
(Photo from DTI)
Dubbed “Maximizing Gains in Marketing Niche Through Product Enrichment,” the forum sought to explore potential marketing contracts, buyers and linkages to different financial institutions that will provide investment to the agrarian reform beneficiaries’ organizations (ARBOs).
DAR-Caraga Regional Director Leomides Villareal challenged the coffee farmers to take to heart the learning from the investment forum.
“It is very timely that we promote and showcase our locally-produced coffee”, he said.
As a side activity, actual cupping session was conducted by Mark Anthony Balahay, a licensed Q Grader in Caraga.
Among the activities conducted during the forum included roasting, brewing and tasting of the sample coffee beans produced by the Mabuhay Coffee Growers Cooperative and Barangay Villaberde Coffee Growers Cooperative.
Balahay explained that the forum would cater to the specific requirements of the buyers depending on how coffee beans are being processed either wet or dry.
Provincial Agrarian Reform Program Officer II Leoncio Bautista Jr. expressed hoped that the initiative, carried out under the Project Convergence on Value Chain Enhancement for Rural Growth and Empowerment, would open opportunities for the farmers, especially in the Barobo-Tagbina agrarian reform communities.
“I’m looking forward to bigger marketing contracts that will help increase the income of the farmers,” Bautista said.