BAUKO, Mountain Province – Mountain Province State Polytechnic College (MPSPC) planted coffee seedlings to celebrate the 2019 Cordillera Month with the theme “CAR @32: Building One Greater Cordillera.”
Volunteers of MPSPC Bontoc, Tadian, and Baang campuses from Research Development and Extension Office, Coffee Center Project staff, Planning Office, and Office of the President headed by College President Rexton F. Chakas planted more than 700 coffee seedlings in the coffee planting series last June 13 for the first part, and July 3 and 10 for the second part.
Dr. Alver W. Claudio, Coffee Center Director, emphasized that the series of Coffee Tree Planting activities set will help increase the yield of coffee beans to sustain the raw materials of the Coffee Center, in support to Arabica coffee as a regional commodity and as an inaugural activity for the Cordillera Month. The activities are also in line with the National Greening Program’s goals in promoting environmental stability and enhancing climate change mitigation.
“The target quantity of seedlings to be planted around Baang Campus is 1,200 or more so expect that there will be a part three of this tree planting activity on July 18,” Dr. Claudio said.
Claudio further explained that the coffee center is also completing the installation of the equipment for the coffee processing to be fully operational.
“Since we are aiming to have a coffee center, it is proper that the surrounding areas should be planted with accessible raw Arabica Coffee beans to justify its existence. As of the moment, we planted four varieties of Arabica including Yellow Bourbon, Red Bourbon, Typica and Mondonovo,” he added.
The Coffee Center envisioned on showcasing the technology of the coffee project and as a training venue for coffee enthusiasts in terms of reproduction and processing.
With the establishment of the Coffee Center in 2018, MPSPC geared towards continuously planting more coffee trees since according to the recent reports of the DTI, the demand for this commodity in the market continues to increase even with the increasing production volume.
By Warden Taltala
