PATRONIZING LOCALLY GROWN FILIPINO COFFEE

PATRONIZING LOCALLY GROWN FILIPINO COFFEE

To my fellow Filipinos: If I have a choice, and under normal circumstances, I will rather go to Figaro’s Coffee or Bo’s Coffee instead of Starbucks Coffee or Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf (CBTL) or any other foreign franchised brand. But then again, there are other factors that I must consider, such as the proximity of local branches, and the availability of parking spaces in those branches.

The reason why I prefer to go to the local franchised Filipino coffee shops is because I know that they serve coffee drinks made from locally grown coffee beans. That is also the reason why I drink Nescafe instant coffee at home, because I know that Nestle buys coffee beans from local coffee farmers. Not only that, Nestle has been supporting these farmers by improving their yields and incomes, and by promoting their sustainable farming practices.

The bad news is, both Starbucks and CBTL are sourcing their coffee beans mostly from abroad. But the good news is, they have started buying local coffee beans in some countries where they operate, such as what they are doing in Yunnan Province in China. Although the details are unclear, CBTL is now serving coffee made from beans coming from a variety of sources, including the Philippines.

Although the Philippines is theoretically a “free market” economy, I believe that there is nothing wrong if the government will encourage both Starbucks and CBTL to also start serving coffee made from locally grown beans. Aside from that, the government could probably offer some incentives to these two companies, so that they would be encouraged to export coffee beans to their branches all over the world.

I am also drinking San Mig Sugar Free 3 in 1 coffee because it tastes good, but how I wish that SMC will make it locally or get a local company to toll manufacture it here, instead of toll manufacturing it in Thailand. Can you imagine if San Mig Coffee Mix could become an export product instead? Can you imagine what good that could do to our local economy? Can you imagine how many coffee farmers that could help?

While the DTI is actively trying to promote our coffee products abroad, some multi-level marketing (MLM) companies like DXN and Organo Gold are raking in millions from coffees made in Malaysia. I need not ask, but of course we know that those who are selling these products are doing so because they are making money, but it is sad to note that by buying coffees made abroad, we are reducing the livelihood of our coffee farmers.

It is a good thing that DTI is now promoting its “Buy Local” program, but perhaps they could be encouraged to talk to these foreign companies to also start buying locally grown coffee? Or perhaps convince them to eventually export our local coffee products? I do not know the particulars for now, but to encourage them, we could probably give them some tax incentives. Very truly yours, IKE SENERES/11-09-2024

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

HOW IS THE CRIME RATE COMPUTED IN THE PHILIPPINES?

HOW IS THE CRIME RATE COMPUTED IN THE PHILIPPINES? When we talk about the crime rate in the Philippines, we often assume that the figures we see are accurate reflections of reality. But have we ever paused to ask—how exactly is the crime rate computed? Where does this data come from, and how reliable is it? The computation of the crime rate in the Philippines is officially handled by the Philippine National Police (PNP). The formula itself is straightforward: Crime Rate = (Total Reported Crimes / Total Population) x 100,000 This simple equation gives us the number of crimes per 100,000 people, allowing for fair comparison across regions and time periods. However, the reality behind these numbers is more complex than it appears. Data from the Ground The foundation of our national crime rate is empirical data collected at the grassroots level—from individual police stations scattered across the country. Every reported crime is logged in local police blotters, forming the buil...
Read more

GREY AREAS IN GOVERNMENT FUNCTIONS

GREY AREAS IN GOVERNMENT FUNCTIONS Dear Mr. President: May I ask who is going to be the arbiter or referee whenever there are overlaps in functions between two or more government agencies? I imagine that there would be no problem if these agencies would just cooperate and collaborate with each other, but what if they are unable to settle their differences and they would just end up throwing blame at each other or finger pointing at each other? Allow me to cite some examples. Who is supposed to take the lead in waste to energy projects? Is it supposed to be the DENR that is supposed to handle waste? Or is it supposed to be the DOE that is supposed to handle energy generation? Or is it supposed to be the DILG since it is the one that could direct or influence the waste to energy projects of LGUs? Who is supposed to take the lead in producing and promoting the use of biofuels? Is it supposed to be the DA, since the production of biofuels is supposed to be all about planting biofuel ...
Read more

LOCALIZED FREE AMBULANCE SERVICES

LOCALIZED FREE AMBULANCE SERVICES As it is supposed to be, anyone in the Philippines should be able to dial 911, and a telephone operator should be able to dispatch fire, rescue, ambulance and police (FRAP) units as soon as possible, based on acceptable response times. I invented the FRAP acronym for easy recall, and I hope it sticks, if there is no other alternative. Unfortunately, due to a mixture of technical and political reasons, the Philippines has not adopted 911 as a national number, because some LGUs would rather use their own three-digit numbers such as 117 and 168. I actually proposed a technical solution to that problem, but it was not adopted either. For whatever it is worth, my solution is to install a call forwarding system that could route all calls to a central operator, regardless of what number is dialed. It is very sad for me to know that up to now, even if our country is already over one hundred years old, there are still many LGUs that do not have fire trucks. it ...
Read more