Negros Occidental’s provincial government is implementing strategies to boost local coffee production in the next three years.

Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz II said Tuesday the province is producing only eight metric tons annually or about 10 percent of what should be the yield of the lands where coffee is cultivated.

“Which is very low. Supposedly, a good yield should be at 90 metric tons. We are only producing 10 percent of what is expected,” he told reporters.

In Negros Occidental, about 8,000 hectares of coffee plantations are being operated by people’s organizations and non-government organizations, which are holders of special use agreements in protected areas.

Diaz said the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist has earmarked PHP16 million from the province’s 20 percent development plan for the program to boost coffee production but noted the need to re-strategize.

He said some coffee plantations are located inside the protected area because the Department of Environment and Natural Resources allowed it as part of its greening program, but some plants are no longer productive because of age and disease.

“We might as well rethink if we need to spend PHP16 million for rejuvenation. Why not go down to marginal lands that are unused? Probably, it would be easy to maintain and easier to visit, compared to those in the mountains,” Diaz said. “Let’s strategize. Let’s rethink what to do so that we can hit the 90 metric tons yield in the next three years.”

He said the plans include rejuvenating some coffee plantation areas and planting new materials that would focus on the robusta variety, being eyed to become the trademark of Negros coffee, and there would also be shared facilities at the Food Terminal Market of Negros Occidental in this city.

“Everybody else will just contribute to the raw materials and then come up with one product that will be known in the country and around the world that whenever it is Negros Café or Abanse Negrense Café, it’s really a good robusta,” he said.

Diaz said there is an inventory of funds the province would receive from the Department of Agriculture’s Philippine Rural Development Project for four farmers’ associations.

The funds’ recipients are in the municipality of La Castellana, and the cities of Cadiz, La Carlota, and Sipalay and will be used for the provision of a primary processing plant for coffee harvest. (PNA)