LOCAL BREW. The Baslay Highland Agriculture Cooperative in Barangay Baslay, Dauin, Negros Oriental, has benefitted from the local government declaration of coffee as its One Town, One Product. The cooperative was formed more than two decades ago to transform slash-and-burn farmers into environmental stewards and entrepreneurs. (PNA photo by Mary Judaline F. Partlow)
DUMAGUETE CITY – The One Town, One Product (OTOP) project of the government has benefited a coffee cooperative in Barangay Baslay, Dauin, Negros Oriental.
It has transformed kaingero (slash-and-burn farmers) into successful entrepreneurs and environmental stewards in over two decades.
Ruel Perez, chief executive officer of the Baslay Highland Agriculture Cooperative (Bashaco), told the Philippine News Agency in an interview Tuesday, that their market continues to expand after the Dauin local government unit (LGU) declared coffee as its OTOP.
“While coffee generally is the town’s OTOP to avoid discrimination of growers, Bashaco is the lead organization due to technological advancements that made us the first to take off in the production of quality coffee,” Perez said.
The Dauin local government, under Mayor Galicano Truita, enacted an ordinance in 2023 making coffee the town’s OTOP even before the Senate mandated LGUs to come up with products reflective of their own identities, Perez said.
Trial and error
In 1989, farmers engaged in the destructive “kaingin” method of clearing land through slash-and-burn, were organized into the Baslay Coffee Association under the supervision of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).
The association in its early stages just planted and harvested coffee, selling the beans for as low as PHP60 per kilo.
Their crude methods were not as competitive as today, Perez said.
“It took us 25 years to unlearn the old ways, as we were just doing things in tira-pasagad or hit-and-miss approach, and typically, Filipinos do not adapt to the proper methods until they see the rewards,” he added.
The farmers then transitioned from the traditional to modern methods of growing, harvesting, and post-production processes of coffee through government and non-government interventions until they finally formed a cooperative on Nov. 17, 2020.
Prior to this or in 1984, the Energy Development Corporation (EDC) organized the “kaingero” and engaged them in the company’s BINHI reforestation program, pouring in financial and technical support until the Baslay farmers became self-sufficient, according to Perez.
EDC saw the need for a regenerative approach to protect the watersheds around the Mt. Talinis area, where the company’s geothermal power plants are situated.
The firm was recently conferred international sustainability awards for its Corporate Social Responsibility coffee project in Baslay.
EDC officials turned over to Perez the Outstanding Social Empowerment Award that it received from the Asia Responsible Enterprise Awards.
Expanding markets
After decades of hard work and perseverance, the Baslay coffee growers are now venturing into selling cacao tablea, forest honey and arenga sugar, all coming from the 487 hectares of forest land tenured to the cooperative, Perez said.
Some 120 hectares of this land are planted for coffee, including the Robusta, Arabica, and Liberica varieties, while the rest are for other greening ventures.
“We at Bashaco can now command a higher price for our products because of their quality while being regularly audited by the DTI (Department of Trade and Industry),” Perez said.
Uplifting the community, training the young
Perez said they envision raising their children to learn to appreciate and love coffee until the right time comes for them to take over the cooperative's management and its aligned businesses.
Baslay has its own Highland Brew Coffee Shop in Dauin, which also serves meals and caters to small events while running its cooperative store.
Paying it forward, Perez said they pay their harvesters PHP35 per kilo of coffee harvested, which he says is higher than other coffee farms in the country that only pay PHP18 up to PHP22 per kilo.
The harvesters are all members of the cooperative and it is the mission of the cooperative to uplift their lives, he said.
The Baslay cooperative now produces Grade 1 specialty coffee as evaluated by the DTI, which sells for as much as PHP1,280 a kilo compared to the PHP 300 per kilo mainstream retail coffee.
To date, some 20 young people who are children of cooperative members, are also working part-time as restaurant servers while already trained on coffee production. Some of them are already interested in studying agriculture courses.
Perez said coffee and cacao production are billion-dollar industries that provide opportunities for farmers to venture into these areas of agriculture.
With President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. highlighting these as among the high-value crops in the country, Perez hopes there will be plenty of coffee and cacao farmers to meet the demands of the industry.
Perez said the Philippines is among the biggest importers of coffee and hopes that one day, this will change.
“If you are a coffee farmer, do not stop just there. We have to grow, harvest, process, brew, and market coffee and that way, we can get the entire value chain,” he added. (PNA)
