3-years, P3M, 3 modern coffee mills

The Cooperative's coffee mill.

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – From just a P3 million loan payable in three years, RMC Benguet Arabica Coffee Growers Cooperative is now running the most modern Arabica coffee mill in the country, thanks to cooperation between Rocky Mountain Café Inc. (RMCI), the National Confederation of Cooperatives (NATCCO), and the Benguet State University (BSU).

The mill is located in the Benguet State University pilot farm in Barangay Longlong and is operated by RMC Benguet Arabica Coffee Growers Cooperative (RMCBACGC).

It was all systems go for the modern and ecological Arabica coffee processing center when it was inaugurated on March 8, in simple ceremonies attended by cooperative members, and officials of RMC and BSU. Representing NATCCO was Cecil de la Cruz of NATCCO’s Enterprise Development Center (NEDC).

NATCCO’s Treasury & Credit Group provided a term loan amounting to P3.0 million payable in three years to allow the RMC Cooperative to set up the mill.

Two more mills were also set up in March and April at Tuba and Atok municipalities in Benguet. A fourth mill will also be set up this year in General Santos City, Sarangani Province.

BSU provides technical support throughout the coffee production process, from the farm all the way to packaging of the beans. Canada-based Rocky Mountain Café, as buyer of the coffee beans, provides marketing support to ensure sustainability of the co-op’s operations.

“This partnership will help Cordillera farming communities to raise the quality of their Arabica beans through the use of efficient, modern, and eco-friendly wet coffee processing technology such as an ecological wet mill to soften the cherry pulps, ecological pulper to remove the pulp, and an ecological coffee dryer with no air pollution emissions,” says Carmeli Chaves, Director for Corporate Responsibility of Rocky Mountain Café.

Coffee seedlings at the co-operative's nursery ready for planting.

She added that the processing center “will contribute to the upgrading of the quality of Arabica beans in Benguet to meet the stringent standards of the Specialty Coffee Association of America.”

“The loan provided by NATCCO is crucial because it builds the capacity of newly-established co-ops,” says Alma Vinluan, NATCCO Credit Officer.

“For just a small amount, farmers have been empowered enormously. NATCCO is committed to helping free our farmers from the clutches of milddlemen, who make a neat profit at the expense of poor farmers,” says Ernie Lim, Head of the NATCCO Enterprise Development Center (NEDC).

Higher quality Arabica is directly purchased by RMC at a higher price, resulting in additional income for co-op members, who in the past were manipulated by middlemen and traders who buy beans at low prices and then make a killing in the commodities market.

Many of the farmer-members of RMCBACGC are elderly Ibaloi tribesmen. So the mill allows them to do away with the burdensome task of manually pulping the cherries and pounding the beans, time-consuming processing and drying activities.
Manually processed beans result in damaged beans which consequently lower the price of the product.

“Rocky Mountain Café is proud to take a leading role in modernizing the coffee industry in the Philippines. The Bektey Arabica Processing Center provides benefits to coffee farmers, improve the conditions of farming communities, and rehabilitate the Philippine coffee industry starting in Benguet,” said Chaves.

Thirty-five men and women, Ibaloi farmers, all members of the RMCBACFC received training on Arabica Coffee Production under Agroforestry Systems in the Cordilleras on Oct. 29, 2010.

RMC’s policy on corporate social responsibility says it “aspires to create a positive impact on Philippine society and aims to achieve sustainable development and likewise respects local indigenous culture.”

NATCCO is composed of 450 cooperatives from all over the Philippines, and is the largest federation of cooperatives in the Philippines today in terms of assets.