MALAYBALAY, Bukidnon—After coffee farmer Arnold Abear embraced the “regenerative agriculture” concept of Nestle Philippines Inc., his yield perked up. Abear told the BusinessMirror that prior to adopting the multinational firm’s farming strategy, his yield hovered around 250 kilos to 350 kilos per hectare per year. Currently, Abear said his farm has been hitting an average
MALAYBALAY, Bukidnon—After coffee farmer Arnold Abear embraced the “regenerative agriculture” concept of Nestle Philippines Inc., his yield perked up.
Had Nestle Philippines not intervened, the farmer from Northern Mindanao said “siguro po wala na; patay na ang industriya ng kape dito sa ating bansa.” There’s only one problem: Abear is pushing 50. And “regenerative agriculture,” a farming method that “respects” the cycle of Mother Nature, needs farmers patient with such a long process.THE “regenerative agriculture” approach introduced by Nestle Philippines comes at a time the Philippines coffee industry is seeing an increase in demand for the bean while supply is unwieldy as coffee farmers are aging, experts say.
They added that such a scenario could lead to the Philippines to increasingly rely on imported coffee and lose leverage when exporters either impose a ban, such as India’s rice stance, or control trade. Despite these numbers, a critical issue looms over the Philippine coffee industry—the sufficiency level, or the ability to meet local demand, is alarmingly low, standing at a mere 27 percent.
“Using regenerative agriculture and intercropping—the more sources of income, the more tataas ang annual income nila,” Baria emphasized. According to the initiative’s results, coffee farmers achieved an average yield of 900kg/ha, a substantial improvement from the baseline crop yield of 235 kg/ha recorded in the 2018-2019 period.
“We teach our farmers, to help them develop a richer soil and make these coffee farming communities more resilient,” Tiedra emphasized. She underscored the seriousness of Nestle’s commitment by stating, “We are here to stay; we are here for the long haul.” She firmly believes that the agricultural industry holds immense potential and offers a multitude of benefits.
This campaign goes beyond traditional charitable efforts, combining online engagement and educational empowerment in a remarkable way. The online challenge harnesses the power of social media to amplify the message of supporting local coffee farming. “They are a beacon of hope, they are teaching agriculture,” Nescafe Classic Assistant Brand Manager Igi Natanuan stated the reason why they choose these institutions.
“We have a preference for students taking up agriculture,” according to Natanuan. The parents should be a member of the Nestle partnered cooperatives such as Sta. Catalina Multipurpose Cooperative and Lamac Multipurpose Cooperative.
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