Produce more coffee, DTI tells SMEs

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is encouraging small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to address the demand from the thriving coffee shop business in the Philippines.

 

"There are vast opportunities in the regional and global production networks that we can take advantage of," Trade Assistant Secretary Ceferino Rodolfo said in an emailed statement Friday, adding that the key to the success of Philippine coffee both in the domestic and international markets is in the quality of the beans and the workers who produce them.

 

Rodolfo spoke recently to stakeholders and local government agencies in the Cordillera region, one of DTI's target areas, where some 112 micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) depend on trading and growing coffee for a living. 

 

He noted the DTI is in cooperation with other government agencies in providing coffee traders and growers with the Shared Service Facilities that encompass machines for roasting and grinding, a project launched in cooperation with international agencies to increase farm production.

 

Financing, branding and promotions, capacity building and training activities, and capital equipment, are also being addressed, Rodolfo added.

 

For her part, DTI regional director for the Cordillera Administrative Region Myrna Pablo said the government has been closely working with coffee farmers and growers since 2011 to prioritize industry development in the region.

 

The coffee industry in the Cordilleras is a multi-agency collaboration of government agencies that include the DTI, Department of Agriculture, and the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA), the statement read. – Raffy Cabristante/VS, GMA News