(The Philippine Star) Updated March 07, 2010 12:00 AM

MANILA, Philippines - The Nestle Experimental and Demonstration Farm (NEDF) in Tagum City, Davao is preparing for submission for registration with the National Seed Industry Council (NSIC) seven new high quality coffee selections.

Arthur Baria, Nestle agricultural services head, says these coffee selections are high-yielding, resistant to pests and diseases, have good and acceptable cup, quality, and well-adaptive to local coffee-growing regions. Although the seven selections have been scrutinized by scientists, it still awaits the approval of the Department of Agriculture before it can finally be registered with NSIC.

These new selections will provide coffee farmers a wider choice of having the best coffee crops they can have with very good genetic potential.

The NEDF is also about to start introducing cell-cultured coffee. This method aims to produce high-quality robusta coffee seedlings for farmers and growers through mass propagation using the somatic embryogenesis technique.

“We will make available initial cell-cultured ready-to-plant robusta seedlings by the first quarter of 2011, or at best, fourth quarter of 2010.” says Baria.

Stakeholder engagement

Apart from training coffee farmers and developing breakthrough technologies in coffee development, the NEDF also plays a crucial role and serves as the nerve center in partnering with various stakeholders in the coffee industry.

The most recent partnership was the memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the Department of Agriculture and Nestle Philippines, Inc. The MOU represents the shared commitment of both the DA and NPI to address the decline in green coffee production in the Philippines and sets terms for programs that will support Filipino farmers in efforts to rehabilitate and plant new coffee trees with the NEDF as the main vehicle to achieve these goals. Farmers will be provided with planting materials and competent agronomical expertise geared towards sustainable development.

To operationalize the MOU, one major partnership was established between the NEDF and the Northern Mindanao Integrated Agricultural Research Center (NOMIARC) of the DA-Regional Field Unit No. X in Dalwangan, Bukidnon. Through the partnership, the NOMIARC will become a mini-NEDF that covers Northern and Central Mindanao coffee farmer and grower needs.

The mini-NEDF will feature a mother plant garden which can produce not less than 500,000 ready-to-plant robusta seedlings for coffee farmers, a techno-demonstration farm of coffee-based technologies under the sustainable agricultural initiatives platform, and a coffee monocrop demonstration farm. It will also have a fully-functional coffee seedling nursery in the area. It will also house bulk of the cell-cultured coffee plants during it early stage of development after which these will be distributed to seedling outlets of Nestle and DA.

“In the long-term, the NEDF’s goal is share its knowledge base with pro-active coffee stakeholders like the DA to develop a sustainable robusta coffee industry that supports both the domestic and export needs of the country,” says Baria. “The NEDF also seeks to reaffirm itself as the country’s foremost coffee research and development facility by upholding the country’s vision for coffee self-sufficiency through production of, and making available quality, high-yielding robusta seedlings for farmers and growers, dissemination of matured coffee package of technologies (POTs), training of farmers and growers, and strengthening linkages through a sustained, responsive, and robust research and development agenda.”

With the help of the NEDF, NESCAFÉ is able to deliver its many promises to its stakeholders – for coffee farmers to improve their yield, income and quality of life, future coffee plantation managers and students to be better equipped for future opportunities and us, coffee drinkers an assurance of quality coffee we deserve.