Coffee farmers take time out to learn about sustainability

The foundation gave out garden hoses and fertilizers to lucky raffle winners.

LA TRINIDAD, BENGUET—Some 280 individuals from Benguet’s coffee farming trade and coffee farming communities attended the recently concluded Kape Kabuhayan Kinabukasan Summit 2018, a conference on sustainable agricultural practices organized by Foundation for Sustainable Coffee Excellence (FSCE) and Henry and Sons in partnership with the local government of La Trinidad.

The Kape Kabuhayan Kinabukasan Summit, or KKK Summit 2018, is a biannual seminar designed by FSCE to unite, educate and inspire coffee growers to pursue a more sustainable future for the industry of local coffee.

FSCE director Emil Cuaresma shared that the foundation, as well as the platforms and programs under it, served as avenues for establishing shared prosperity among the local coffee growers of Benguet.

Held at the Lednicky Hall of the La Trinidad Municipal Building, the summit featured a segment on sustainable coffee farming by Prof. Valentino Macanes, associate professor, Arabica coffee scientist, and consultant and resource person of the Department of Agroforestry of Benguet State University.

He stressed the importance of a multisectoral approach where every stakeholder within the coffee value chain must do its part to maintain the quality production of Arabica coffee.

A highlight was a talk by FSCE director and Henry and Sons president Michael Harris Conlin on how to earn more from planting coffee.

Cuaresma also gave the audience a peek into the foundation’s 2018 calendar filled with programs to help reach the goal of a more sustainable coffee farming landscape.

This month marks the second run of vaccination programs in partnership with luxury buffet restaurant Vikings Philippines under the Beans for the Little Ones program for coffee farming kids of a new barangay in La Trinidad.

Postharvesting facilities will then be awarded in July, while water gallons will be awarded in September, as part of the Cup to Seed and the Giving Well programs, respectively.

July’s postharvest facilities were purchased through funds generated from A Cup of Thankful, a campaign started by another one of FSCE’s partners, 7 Eleven.

All programs are in line with FSCE’s goal of empowering Benguet coffee growers into making coffee sustainable long into the future and bringing Philippines back into the global coffee spotlight.