I’m finishing a cup of coffee right now, not black,
but as dark as it can get to keep me awake as I write this, from an afternoon
nap. (image from
Shutterstock, shutterstock.com)
Debbie
Gasingan writes from up there
in Atok, Benguet that “A farmers cooperative in Benguet venturea into coffee
processing and marketing” as an income-generating common project for its
farmer-members (23 June 2025, pia.gov.ph). This is the Caliking
Farmers Multi-Purpose Cooperative (CFMPC) whose manager is Conrado Baldino.
There are 1,009
members of the Caliking coop – 200 are coffee growers from barangays Caliking, Topdac, Abiang, and Poblacion. They are now embarking on a
huge project to serve the world of coffee drinkers like me.
(I’m now
volunteering to help market the product by coming up with a sweet-strong name
to attract customers. Shakespeare’s Juliet
says, “What’s in a name. That which we call a ‘rose’ by any other name would
smell as sweet.” Actually, that’s a Juliet naïve
in marketing!)
Of them coop’s
1,009 members, around 200 are coffee growers. Coop Manager Baldino shares that the coffee produce
of their coop members, around 200 of them from barangays Caliking, Topdac, Abiang and Poblacion), is now being bought separately
and in bulk to make their personal dreams come true. (I’ll drink coffee to
that!)
Baldino says, “Idi,
dagitoy members, i-roast da ti kape da, ikarga da iti paper bag and cellophane
ken ipan da iti coop. Napanunot ti coop staff a nu ngata i-improve tayo ti
products dagiti members tayo tapnu mayat ti kaledad na.” (There was a time our
members roasted their coffee, put them in paper bags and cellophane, and
brought them to the coop. It was the coop staff who thought of what to do to bring
the coffee to quality.)
Processing with
care is the secret. Processing to satisfy the hard-to-satisfy members is the
unsaid secret!
Not to forget:
“The cooperative
tapped the assistance of the government, particularly the Department of Agrarian Reform, providing
the infrastructure for the coffee processing center, the Department of Trade and Industry for the
coffee processing equipment, and the Department
of Science and Technology for the training to improve packaging and
labeling.“
Now then, the
Caliking coffee is a common project of the DAR, DTI, and DOST.
Coop Manager Baldino
said that “they already hired a Quality
Control Officer to check on the quality of the coffee produce they are
buying from the farmers. They also go directly to the farmers. He said that the
price depends on the quality of coffee. Meaning, it depends!
There are
additional advantages if members sell their coffee to their coop:
“(Baldino) added
that aside from the higher buying price of the cooperative compared to traders,
(the) farmer-members (sellers)… will receive a patronage refund at the end of
the year. Transportation costs will also be reduced.”
Cheers!@517
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