THE people of Davao City are supposed to be enjoying a wide range of coffees this early April. And the experience could have continued up to this month as exemplified by the recurring Facebook meme of the peculiar Filipino tendency to drink coffee on a hot summer day.
But the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic has prevented coffee farmers from taking advantage of this Filipino trait. Instead, the health crisis stalled about 10 tons of coffee beans from all over the country in various warehouses.
These coffee beans are not the usual produce of the coffee farmers. These are entries for the Philippine Coffee Quality Competition (PCQC) initially slated for March and are intended for specialty coffee. That means, these coffee beans are produced with the utmost care, patience, and have gone through the strictest and painstaking process to make it competitive in the local and international market.
Out of the over 10 tons of coffee bean entries, about 25 percent of it or roughly 2.5 tons of it came from the coffee farmers in Davao Region.
"While some farmers can dispose of their coffee easily, there are those who will need support in selling their coffees," Philippine Coffee Advancement and Farm Enterprise (Philcafe Project) business development service coordinator Emmanuel Quisol said.
"To address this, an online market matching platform was set-up to facilitate buyers and sellers exchange. A total of 20 coffee buyers have signified interest to buy the PCQC2020 coffee lots submitted by farmers," he added.
In a situation report of the PCQC organizers, the farmers reportedly agreed to sell their competition entries at a fair price of P350 to P500 per kilogram (kg) for Arabica and P150/kg to P250/kg for Robusta. But the majority of the farmers wanted their beans to be cupped and scored which would dictate a higher selling price.
"Fifty percent of the participants openly requested to be informed of the cupping scores and flavor notes of their entries so as to have a benchmark for quality, especially since they have applied several "techniques" in the processing of entries and to improve the quality of their coffee," the report said.
However, because of the ongoing crisis, farmers were forced to sell their beans at a lower price just to survive the day.
"According to one participant, they are left with no choice but to sell their Arabica coffee to Chinese traders in Davao del Sur at P110/kg," the report revealed.
Just like other industries, coffee farmers were greatly affected by the Covid-19 crisis and the quarantine measure implemented by the government.
"Coffee products by farmers are not only sold locally but also in other parts of the country and even for export. With the implementation of ECQ (enhanced community quarantine), coffee produce of farmers are stuck either because businesses of coffee buyers have closed and/or logistics companies cannot move the products," Quisol said.
For the Davao Coffee Council, coffee farmers connected with retail are considered to be heavily affected due to the closure of coffee shops and similar establishments.
"Sa consumer retail like ground coffee or roasted coffee, naa man halin via online (We still gain income from the consumer retail online) but it's really not the same as pre-Covid time," Davao Coffee Council chair Ian Asilo.
He said based on his experience, his sales dropped by 50 percent.
"Mag lisod mig deliver although ginagmay ra ni. Wala pa mi export since kulang pa man jud ang coffee sa atoa (We struggled with the delivery and we can't export yet because our coffee is not enough for us)," he said.
He said they were not yet able to quantify the losses of the industry since the ECQ also prevented them from holding meetings.
However, the struggle of coffee farmers worsened when the City Government grouped the barangays in "Clusters" to limit the movement of people.
Asilo said most of the coffee farms are located in Clusters 4 and 5 or in Toril District and the Districts of Calinan, Baguio, Marilog, Tugbok, respectively while the farmers are residing in a different cluster.
"I can't check my farm for almost two months now. I'm not so sure if coffee farmers are part of the 'essential farmers' who can go beyond the cluster check points," Asilo said, whose residence is in Cluster 3 or Buhangin District while his farm is in Cluster 5.
He appealed that the Department of Agriculture in Davao Region (DA-Davao Region) or the City Agriculture Office (CAO) will allow them to visit and tend their coffee farms by issuing the certification.
"I'm pretty sure that this present situation will not be until May 15 only but it will still be around maybe for one to two years or until there's a drug or vaccine available. Coffee farmers will just have to cope with the situation and be resilient on what to do in the mountains," he said.
"The best thing to do right now for me is to plant, plant, plant more coffee and in two years' time, after this pandemic, you can have a harvest already especially if you plant an 18-month variety. That will make the coffee farmers happy," he added.
The PCQC and the Philippine Coffee Expo are rescheduled for 2021 but that is yet to be seen. Hopefully, as we sip coffee on a hot summer day, we support our local coffee industry and steady our economy.