Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Kalinga coffee farmers draft micro-business plan

TABUK CITY, Kalinga – Members of the Gawidan Coffee Farmers Association (GCFA), here drafted a 3-year micro-business plan aimed at promoting civet coffee production under the Rural Micro-enterprise Promotion Program (RuMEPP).

Noryn Bagano of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) provincial office said the plan emphasizes development of a civet coffee product, which is acclaimed to be the best coffee blend.

Kalinga is producing three top brewed-coffee classes in the market, Kalinga Brew, Kalinga Blend and Mananig Coffee.

RuMEPP under DTI assists small business entrepreneurs by providing them business management capabilities through trainings on simple book keeping, marketing and financial planning.

This is in line with government program on job creation and provision of livelihood opportunities among low-income families in the countryside in the fight against poverty and hunger.

Civet coffee production is a part of the product development component which DTI is advocating for small business groups for them to maximize income out of their limited business ventures, Bagano explained.

The three-year plan, according to Bagano, will give a pathway for growth and sustainability for GCFA so that within the period they will have a business focus.

It has been a common observation that small entrepreneurs only operate for one to two years because of lack of proper business capability and direction. This is the need the RuMEPP program aims to answer, Bagano said.

After its capability building, small entrepreneurs can obtain a financial aid from the program, as an association, ranging from P200,000 to P2 million with a minimum interest rate of 8-10% per annum.

In the planning, GCFA also wants to expand to other resource-based activities like coffee seedling production to supply other farmers.

This is eyed as a lucrative enterprise with coffee now becoming a high source of income among farmers, reaching the P75/kilo price on the last season.

Aside from providing business management capability, DTI advocated to the group proper business discipline. **By Larry Lopez, ZZW

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