Nestlé opens coffee research center in Lipa

Nescafé manufacturer Nestlé Philippines, Inc., has opened a coffee production and research facility in Lipa City, Batangas.

The P25-million, five-hectare Nestlé Lipa Integrated Coffee Center (LICC) was formally launched last week and functions as an integrated research center and a station for buying coffee beans from farmers. It is the company's second such facility after opening the Nestlé Experimental and Demonstration Farm (NEDF) in Tagum City, Davao del Norte.

The facility houses nurseries for the production of 500,000 Robusta coffee seedlings, a technology demonstration center for new varieties and an organic fertilizer composting facility. The LICC is set to eventually increase its planting capacity to one million seedlings.

Nestlé is one of the largest buyers of produce from local farmers, procuring coffee from them at world market prices and paying within eight hours of delivery.

Nescafé in the Philippines is manufactured in Cagayan de Oro. — BM, GMA News