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Last September 28 and 29, Nestlé Philippines conducted a seminar at the Nestlé Experimental and Demonstration Farm (NEDF) in Tagum, Davao del Sur. Nestlé, who is the manufacturer of the coffee branch Nescafé, held the seminar as a part of the ongoing memorandum of agreement between the company and the Department of Agriculture (DA) which stipulates that there would be an exchange of expertise between the two parties. The two-day seminar was participated by officials of the DA from Bicol, Iloilo, Bohol, Mindoro and Cavite.

The DA regional officials are excited that the once they bring the new learnings they receive from the NEDF to their respective areas, it would arouse interest among coffee farmers. The training provided for a venue for educating farmers on the sustainable coffee growing and production and for distribution of good coffee planting materials sold at cost.

Ailyn Rafer, project proponent of Community-Based Participatory Action Research on Coffee and Cacao of Region 5, Camarines Norte, said “The coffee farmers back at our home are looking forward to learn about the new coffee methods that we learned here in the NEDF.” She said they would being training 40 coffee farmers using the new knowledge they gained from the seminar, with the aim of training more farmers in the future.

Eda Dimapilis, Agricultural Program Coordinating Officer of Cavite, believes that the NEDF’s training will help rejuvenate the coffee farms in her area. “One of our goals in Cavite is to establish a demo coffee farm similar to the one in Davao. That way, our coffee farmers can have a clear picture of what they can accomplish in their farms using the new planting methods we learned here in the NEDF,” she said.

Topics discussed in the seminar included new coffee production technologies, coffee propagation, coffee economics, plantation establishment, harvesting and post-harvesting and quality control, among others.