With the declining production of coffee in the Philippines in the past years or so, Nestle Philippines has addressed this problem by creating a cropping system that will not only the production of coffee but also help as a supplement to the coffee farmers.

According the the Manila Bulletin:

The system involves the planting of so-called companion crops like peanuts, corn, mungo, forage and other crops to supplement the farmers’ incomes, and serve as an incentive for others to go into coffee farming.

Nestle Philippines started this system in 2004 under a Sustainable Agriculture Initiatives (SAI) program. This system is free of charge to any farmer who is interested. [Read the full article]

Ed's Comments: This is just great for the end user, coffee industry and of course the coffee farmers. We know that the production of coffee has dwindled in recent years and at least Nestle has done its part to help keep up with the growth of this industry. Great job on their part!

We really benefit from this as this might create better coffee and with that there would be more happy customers. I am proud of our coffee here but we could still improve on it. I am not sure how since the beans would depend on the weather, soil etc but in terms of efficiency and volume of production and the quality of beans I think that these are things we should concentrate on first. Any suggestions on how we can help our industry?

These improvements would really help our coffee industry in terms of marketability. I really want our coffee to be known worldwide. I want it to be of great quality and great taste (no advertisement here :P) so we could really tell the world that the Philippines makes great coffee.

Let us not forget our farmers, because without them these dreams of being known worldwide won't come true. Again, great job with this SAI, since this system targets the coffee farmers and helps them with their methods and practices. With them learning more and getting more incentives out of farming especially on the financial side, there would be more happy farmers. You know what happens when the people are happy with their work, great things can happen. This is just a win-win situation for the farmers and the coffee industry.

In addition to that, with the SAI, these farmers would not have to wait two to three years in order for them to reap what they have sown. Right now it only needs them less than a year (yes, less than a year!) to earn from their coffee farms. This has been such a great improvement for them.

This is a Pinoy Coffee Tickle moment where everyone is happy. A great achievement for the Filipinos. We just have to stick with it and hopefully this would benefit more in the long run. Thanks to Nestle and to all those who have supported our coffee industry. (This makes me want to write about those who have helped our industry hmm...)

As we say here, Tickle Away to a Great Day! To a better Philippines!