BAGUIO CITY – Around 200 cacao and coffee farmers in the Cordillera region attended this year’s three-day Agribusiness Support for Promotions and Investments in Regional Exposition (ASPIRE) event of the Department of Agriculture Cordillera (DA-CAR) held in Baguio City this May 28-30.
The ASPIRE program is a collaboration and networking activity between the government and the private sector spearheaded by the DA, Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), and the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI).
DA-CAR Agriculture and Marketing Assistance Division Officer-In-Charge Jocelyn Beray underscored that the ASPIRE is set to harmonize the various programs of the different sectors and agencies priority for the market and development of farmers, thereby lessening the gap between the producers and consumers to have value-addition and increase income of farmers.
“Through this year’s theme of “Mobilizing Opportunities for Cordillera Coffee and Cacao Agribusiness”, the department seeks to mobilize opportunities for our Cordillera coffee and cacao agribusinesses by promoting these agricultural products. DA have now considered cacao as one of the emerging commodities and currently, there is a proposal to craft for a Value Chain Analysis or VCA for cacao so that we are able to see the different segments of the VCA from production, processing, and marketing with the future stakeholder’s forum,” Beray said.
The said activity featured discussions on the regional coffee and cacao situation, the coffee and cacao value chain and road map, discussions on the coffee and cacao standard, digitalization on investments, logistics and payment system presentation; and programs for the youth with resource speakers coming from various government offices and private organizations.
An experience-knowledge sharing by the coffee and cacao farmers during the said three-day activity was also conducted providing the participants with additional understanding and information on how coffee and cacao are actually being produced and marketed in the region.
DA-CAR Regional Technical Director for Operations Danilo Daguio explained that at the moment, the department is implementing strict intervention requirements for support to the coffee and cacao industry like trucks and trading capitals as an example, to ensure that the resources of government are being distributed to particular and specific beneficiaries.
“Among the requirements that we require each farmer beneficiaries including their farm laborers is to be a member of DA-CAR accredited civil society organizations, with each individual enrolled under the Registry System for Basic Sectors in Agriculture or RSBSA. We are encouraging all of the participants that they may be aware of the various agricultural programs of the department, aside from the newly created logistics program of the DA that looks into big ticket infrastructure projects like the provision of cold storage facilities and tramlines expected to be distributed this 2025 and 2026,” Daguio added. By JTLlanes
