ISULAN, Sultan Kudarat (PIA) -- The Sultan Kudarat Coffee Council and other stakeholders recently convened in Koronadal City for a 2-day planning workshop for the creation of the Sultan Kudarat Coffee Roadmap 2023-2027.
“The coffee industry can be an effective instrument for poverty alleviation and lasting peace in the province. In order to ensure the growth and sustainability of the industry, we must endeavor in creating a strategic plan which defines the steps necessary to maximize our combined efforts for the achievement of our desired goal for our people, our Province, and the coffee industry of our country,” Gov. Datu Pax Ali Mangudadato wrote in a letter to the council members and the invitees.
Ronan Eugene Garcia, chairperson of the Sultan Kudarat Coffee Council (SKCC) and the SOCCKSARGEN Coffee Council, said the roadmap will address the gaps, issues, and concerns affecting the sector and further push the development of the local coffee industry.
The rationale of the draft roadmap states: “The formulation of this localized coffee industry roadmap highlights the relevant innovations introduced by the Council, which include the: (a) Sultan Kudarat Coffee Council profiling/database system; (b) Sultan Kudarat coffee convergence; (c) institutionalization of policies and systems through legislation; and (d) establishment of a regional coffee hub network to ensure volume and quality of coffee beans, stable market and sustainable income for coffee farmers/producers.
“This roadmap provides both internal and external assessments of the industry. It outlines the vision, mission, goals, strategies, targets and action plans to enhance the growth of the coffee industry from 2023 to 2027.”
In his message to the participants, Garcia emphasized Sultan Kudarat’s dominance as the leading producer of coffee in the country.
“Talking about coffee, we have long been the champion,” Garcia said.
Citing 2021 data from the Philippine Statistics Authority, he underscored that Sultan Kudarat is the top coffee-producing province in the country, sharing 35 percent of the national production.
SOCCKSKSARGEN Region is also the top coffee producing region in the Philippines, contributing about 40 percent of the country’s annual yield. Of the regional harvest, 87 percent come from coffee farmers in Sultan Kudarat.
Sultan Kudarat Province’s efforts to gain the coffee capital title have earned backing from national line agencies, developmental organizations, academe, local government units, and other stakeholders.
The Regional Development Council XII, in its 1st quarter meeting in March, passed Resolution No. 38 series of 2023 “Requesting the Senate of the Philippines to Confer to the Province of Sultan Kudarat the Designation Coffee Capital of the Philippines.” This supports the resolution of the same title earlier passed by the Sultan Kudarat Sangguniang Panlalawigan.
The two-day planning workshop on May 25-26 was facilitated and sponsored by developmental groups ACDI-VOCA, Mahintana Foundation, Inc., and Peace and Equity Foundation.
Apart from officials of the provincial local government unit, officials of the SKCC, and the partner NGOs, strategic planning attendees included representatives of regional line agencies such as the Technical Education and Skills and Development Authority, Department of Trade and Industry, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Department of Science and Technology, Philippine Statistics Authority, Philippine Information Agency, Agricultural Training Institute, and the Department of Agriculture with its attached agencies and major programs, as well as officials of the Sultan Kudarat State University. (PIA SOCCSKSARGEN)
