Mindanaotoday.com | Sarangani coffee mentors trained in coffee production
By: Genory Vanz Alfasain
THE Sarangani Coffee Industry Development Council and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Safe Water conducted a series of Coffee Training Production to coffee mentors both in the eastern and western Sarangani watershed areas.
The training was held in Barangay Lower Mainit, Malungon on October 18 to 19 and in Barangay Upo, Maitum on October 20 to 21.
It aimed to train coffee farmers on good agricultural practices to produce better yield and quality coffee beans that can help increase their income.
This was also intended to improve the water resources in watershed areas while encouraging participants to become coffee mentors in their respective communities.
ACDI/VOCA-PhilCAFE Project Regional Coordinator Allan Datu-Imam was the resource speaker for the said training.
It was a Training for Trainers (ToT) that covered four modules on coffee production such as Coffee Farm Establishment, Care and Maintenance, Integrated Pest and Disease Management, as well as Pruning and Rejuvenation.
The Module 5 and 6 will be held on November 10-11 in the said areas.
“The intervention of USAID Safe Water for sustainable livelihood is for the purpose of involving the community in terms of watershed management. It needs to have community participation to ensure that the water resources would be sufficient for the needs of the population to safely manage water and sanitation services,” said Alma Porciuncula, USAID Safe Water chief of party.
Porciuncula cited the collateral advantage of their intervention that includes the “increase of farmers’ income and improvement of their quality of life” providing “greater opportunities” for the coffee farmers in Sarangani.
The USAID Safe Water team, headed by Porciuncula and Paul Jeffrey, the Director for Asia of DAI Global, LLC, visited the municipality of Malungon, on Wednesday (October 19), to meet personally the coffee farmers and see the demo coffee farm of Inag Coffee Farmers Association, Inc. in Barangay Lower Mainit. The visitation was part of their watershed management activities in Sarangani Province. (Genory Vanz Alfasain | Sarangani Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Inc.)
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