The province of Negros Oriental will target the rehabilitation of at least 60 hectares of existing coffee plantations under the national government’s program to enhance the country’s coffee industry.  Director Nicholas Mate, co-chairman of the Philippine Coffee Board, Inc. (PCBI) met recently with Gov. Emilio Macias II to discuss the implementation of the administration’s Pilipinas Gising AT Magkape (PGAM) program.

Mate, who is in charge of the PGAM program implementation in the entire Visayas region, told the governor at Negros Oriental was among the 21 provinces in the Philippines to benefit from the program, said Capitol information officer Adrian Sedillo. According to Sedillo, the program aims to boost the coffee industry in areas that still have a high number of exisiting coffee trees. The program is divided into three phases, namely, rehabilitation, rejuvenation and re-planting. The first phase aims to rehabilitate 60 hectares of land planted to coffee, targeting at least 1,000 trees per hectare with a corresponding fertilizer subsidy of 20 bags of organic fertilizer per hectare, Sedillo said.

Rehabilitation would take about eight months to a year before rejuvenation will take place, he said.  Rejuvenation would entail pruning the coffee trees and giving  them a rest at least six months to a year before they can be harvested again.

The provincial government of Negros Oriental is currently preparing its list of benefeciaries to the PGAM program prior to the release of the fertilizers, Sedillo said. According to Sedillo, the PGAM is designed to spike the country’s coffee production as it is experiencing a shortfall of about 35,000 tons of coffee a year.  Sedillo quoted PCBI data showed that in the 70’s, the Philippines produced 70,000 tons of coffee a year while Thailand produced 12,000 tons of coffee annually. Beginning in the early 90’s until today, the Philippines’ coffee production dropped gradually to 30,000 tons a year as opposed to Thailand’s 1.2 million tons a year, Sedillo added.