A vision to expand coffee production in the Philippines under agroforestry systems is the subject of an article in Sun Star.

Through the efforts of French-Canadian, Pierre Yves Cote, and the companies he has established (Rocky Mountain Café Inc. (based in Canada and Philippines)) many more Filipinos are set to benefit from coffee production.

Already the companies have worked with indigenous highland farmers and local farmer’s cooperatives to source coffee beans that are brewed in hotels and restaurants throughout the Philippines as well as sold in supermarket chains and grocery stories locally and abroad.

Cote is working on building what the article calls ‘Asia’s Next Coffee Hub’ with a range of coffee varieties grown under an agroforestry system together with pine trees. The idea is to create an eco-tourism destination where visitors can harvest, process, brew and taste the highland coffee.

The coffee growing venture is expected to increase the density of the lower canopy of the pine forest, help water absorption by the aquifer, reduce soil erosion and flash floods, lower the risk of forest fires and increase carbon absorption as well as provide employment opportunities.

The Philippines currently imports 90 per cent of the coffee it consumes, largely from Vietnam and Indonesia. Cote plans to reduce imports by 50 per cent in the next 5 years.

Read the full story: Pierre Yves Cote: Dream of Baguio as Asia’s coffee hub