Barako Coffee from Batangas.

Batangas striving to produce fair trade coffee

Batangas (Philippines) was once a leading producer of coffee in the Philippines.

The type of coffee grown there is called Barako, coming from the Tagalog word for wild boar that are fond of eating the plant’s leaves and berries.

Two hundred years ago, the Philippines was one of the world’s top coffee producers. Due to high labour costs and disease that struck the trees 100 years ago, the Philippines now only produces .012% of the world’s coffee supply.

A prominent coffee company in Batangas, the Figaro Coffee Corporation, has responded to this crisis by establishing a Foundation to safeguard coffee land and to boost sustainable production.

The Foundation, in partnership with local governments in the area and a local university, has established a pilot farm that uses sustainable farming practices. Additionally, the Foundation has launched a campaign to plant 100,000 Barako coffee trees within the next five years.

The coffee grown in Batangas all receives organic certification, a factor that is becoming increasingly more important for coffee buyers and consumers around the world.

In 2006, ICLEI published the Buy Fair – A guide to the public purchasing of Fair Trade Products. The Guide provides simple guidance on how to include fair trade demands in procurement from both a practical and legal standpoint. To obtain the publication as a PDF, please click here.

Batangas is one of 13 local governments in the Philippines that are currently Members of ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability. For more information on ICLEI and its activities in Southeast Asia, please visit www.iclei.org/sea.

Source: “The Barako” and “The Philippine Coffee Industry: A Primer”, at www.savethebarako.org.