Last week, I wrote about Elizabeth Javier, one of 3,000 coffee farmers who were part of Project Coffee++, a three-year program under Nestle Philippines and German agency for cooperation GIZ that aimed to help coffee farmers in Bukidnon and Sultan Kudarat “improve productivity, uplift their economic situation and achieve climate resiliency.”

Another farmer is April Jay Sorongon, 23, from Brgy, Tinalon in Senator Ninoy Aquino, Sultan Kudarat, who is currently taking up Bachelor of Technology in Livelihood Education major in Industrial Arts at Senator Ninoy Aquino College Foundation.

Sorongon began farming in 2021, after graduating from Grade 12. “I stopped studying for two years and started farming coffee. I returned to school because I had something to [pay] for my studies,” he said in Tagalog.

Both Sorongon parents are coffee farmers, and he inherited an interest in cultivation. His childhood was spent accompanying his father in the fields and later, helping him with chores. “It’s really something I’m interested in,” he said. “I can’t explain why I like this work. Other people say it’s heavy work, or it’s hot or tiring, but I enjoy it.”

The family also grows corn, but they’re really focused on coffee. There was a time when they concentrated on corn, but low market prices discouraged them from pursuing the crop. Now, the corn they grow is fed to the hogs they also keep on the farm.

He remembers the exact day he began working with Project Coffee++. “After I finished Grade 12, exactly on Sept. 23, 2021, a technician visited us to ask if my father was interested in becoming an ambassador. Since I wasn’t studying, my father told me to do it instead.”

Sorongon and his fellow farmers were given the opportunity to attend training sessions and seminars, sometimes in different places, allowing the young farmer to travel and see how coffee is grown in other places. They were also given material support, such as fertilizers, for their farms. “I learned a lot, not just about farming but also about business, and that’s what interested me. Even if I’m just a farmer, it’s something to be proud of, especially now that we have the support of our local government.”

He learned how to pick only ripe coffee cherries, how to choose good seeds, and what optimal planting conditions were, such as how deep in the ground the seedlings should be planted, what type of fertilizer to use, and how the plants should be maintained. He also learned about quality control, an important consideration if he wants his beans to be bought.

Sorongon started with one hectare, a gift from his father, and now owns five hectares, the rest bought from his earnings as a coffee farmer. Three hectares are currently planted to coffee, around 3,000 trees total. “Harvest season is once a year but once it starts, it goes on for four months.”

He shared that he used to harvest around five sacks per harvest season when he started, but this has grown significantly since then. “I’m very proud to be able to balance everything because my family is very supportive,” he said. “Like now, I’m studying, I just tell them whatever I need and they’ll be the ones to do it.”

He appreciates being part of Project Coffee++ because, “I get to go to events like this, and it adds motivation to my being a farmer because more opportunities are coming.”

His story has inspired other young people to try their hand at farming as well. “They see that even though I’m studying, it’s possible to still be a farmer and coffee farming really helps a lot.”

Still, this doesn’t mean that there aren’t challenges. “Sometimes financing can be a challenge [depending on the harvest],” he said. “I hope we get more support for challenges like this because it happens to almost all coffee farmers. More funding from the government for coffee.”

He plans to continue farming after graduation, as well as start other businesses once the opportunity arises.

To young folks looking to get into coffee, he says, “You have to be patient in cultivating coffee because what you plant now, you will harvest tomorrow. It takes a while but once you start, it will go on. My advice is you have to want to do it and you have to love it. There’s a lot of opportunity waiting as long as you’re patient and industrious.”

As Hon. Datu Pax Ali Mangudadatu, governor of the Province of Sultan Kudarat, said at the presscon after the event, “We are proud of these farmers. We are happy. They have a better lifestyle today than what they had three or four years ago, or pre-pandemic… What we're doing today is a very positive step toward that direction to make sure that we are coffee-sufficient.”