Agusan coop expand coffee production

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THE Casiklan Wheels Farmers Association Inc. (Cawfai), a group of robusta coffee farmers in Las Nieves, Agusan del Norte, has made it big in coffee production and marketing.

Founded in 1998 as a cooperative, Cawfai made it big in coffee with the support of the Department of Agriculture (DA) through the Philippine Rural Development Program (PRDP). The cooperative has 736 members including from the Manobo and Higaonon Indigenous groups.

“We started as a bayanihan (cooperation) group, hoping to improve our farming practices and gain support from the government to elevate robusta coffee farming,” Cawfai Chairman Felomino Ancog said in an interview.

The Casiklan Wheels Farmers Association Inc. (Cawfai) has adopted sustainable practices to produce quality coffee beans. CAWFAI PHOTO

It was in 1999 that Cawfai received its first financial boost of P20,000 from Leovigildo Banaag, former Agusan del Norte first district representative, allowing the group to acquire a 1-hectare coffee farm.

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The Department of Environment and Natural Resources also supported Cawfai’s establishment of its coffee nursery under the National Greening Program.

However, coffee farmers in Casiklan and nearby villages still struggled with low buying prices from local traders, at times earning as little as P80 per kilo.

Cawfai then realized that they needed to shift from producing only raw coffee beans to processing and selling their own products.

“We understood that relying on traders would keep us from reaching our potential,” Ancog said. “Expanding into value-added processing and marketing became our goal.”

In collaboration with the provincial and municipal agricultural offices, Cawfai submitted a proposal for green coffee bean production and marketing under the DA-PRDP’s Investments for Rural Enterprises and Agricultural and Fisheries Productivity program.

The proposal aimed to boost the farmers’ income by at least 5 percent while enhancing product quality and distribution. And in 2021, the proposal secured P19.8 million in funding from the DA-PRDP.

The World Bank extended an P8.4-million loan and the Philippine government P2.8 million to the cooperative. And with support from the provincial government and the Las Nieves local government, Cawfai was able to acquire processing equipment and build a coffee processing center that was completed in July 2022.

Cawfai now manages over 400 hectares of coffee farms across seven villages, harvesting around 6 tons of beans twice a month.

Since scaling up operations in mid-2022, Cawfai is now able to purchase green coffee beans from members at P240 to P245 per kilo, significantly increasing farmers’ income.

The cooperative now supplies markets as far as Mindanao and Metro Manila, producing 1 to 2 tons of coffee beans every week. Cawfai’s roasted coffee products are also gaining a following, with weekly sales averaging over 100 packs.

“These exposures have been invaluable in connecting us with buyers nationwide,” Cawfai manager Anthony Buntag said.

DA Region 13 (Caraga) Executive Director Arlan Mangelen assured Cawfai of continued support through skill-building and product enhancement initiatives.

“The PRDP will sustain monitoring and help Cawfai create more market linkages,” Mangelen said.

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