No. of :

No. of Shares:

Currently viewed by: Marcus Rosit

Davao City Library Coffee Shop features local beans

DAVAO CITY (PIA) - The coffee shop at the Davao City Library and Information Center is showcasing beans produced by Dabawenyo coffee farmers.

“We are buying beans from cooperatives from Davao but in the end of the year we will be using our own harvest already,” says Agripino Torres CEO of Magsige Multipurpose Cooperative.

Magsige MPC and MCN (Model Cooperative Network) teamed up to operate the Library Café at the ground floor of the new Davao City Library. It has about 30 seats and had its grand opening today (Jan. 18).

Magsige MPC is a new coffee cooperative which started two years ago with 26 farmer-members with 46 hectares fully planted with coffee in Marilog.

“We are still expanding, our nursery can cover more hectarage,” Torres said.

The venture is supported by PhilCafe (Philippine Coffee and Farm Enterprise) an investment program for the country’s coffee sector which supports coffee farmers and entrepreneurs such as Magsige MPC.

Jerson Remo, member of the board of directors MCN said the coffee shop will be a prototype which can be replicated and franchised to different cooperatives.

He said the business despite on a soft opening is breaking even. “We are still in the learning stage yet, we do not expect to turn in profits already at this time but you might be surprised we are almost breaking even,” Remo said.

Torres said they are venturing into this business because the Philippines is a coffee-drinking country and they could get a

Wala pang cooperative na meron ganitong endeavor so this inspires us and inspired by the PhilCafe for supporting us,” Torres said.

The coffee project was made possible by the city government  of Davao which gave them a 60-square meter space inside the library. (PIA/RG Alama)

About the Author

Rudolph Ian Alama

Regional Editor

Region 11

Feedback / Comment

Get in touch