Leg 9 Day 20 : Roads Less Travelled
Roads Less Travelled Lead to Coffee Communities of the Philippine Coffee Alliance program with the Forest Foundation Philippines “Empowering Coffee Value Chains of Forest Communities”
Basilio: Coffee to Share pioneers empowering these communities
Featuring here 4 coffee communities (three are new friends and re-visiting one). The road & trek videos are long - feel the bumpy & muddy ride, the wet grass & cold waters, to be greeted with a warm welcome by the communities.
At the onset, we teach & mentor them to put up their own coffee nurseries so they need not depend on dole outs for seedlings.
We teach them two things: (1) how to produce & process quality coffee. (2) how to make more revenue from coffee
Our meetings are kept warm with cups of coffee and children cheering us everywhere ...
#PhilippineCoffees
#philippinecoffeealliance
#kwentonibasilio
#byahenibasilio
sabi ng mga nasasalubong namin, “Mam, mas mahirap pa sa taas.. hintayin nyo na lang umaraw para tumigas ang lupa”..
appropriate technology & political will are always good measures of solutions to problems
biro mo... tinanim pa ng lolo ni Dato Elpidio ang puno ng excelsa !
coffee trees can survive 3 or more generations ..
our coffee business & advocacy seems like riding the roller coaster everyday
feel every bump & stone on the road. ‘Koni’ gave us a smooth ride over rough roads. our speed was 10 kilometers of rough road in 8 minutes . rider in front is Frankie Villanueva , one of two field officers of the @Philippine Coffee Alliance. Frankie & Mark travel these roads almost everyday to reach the coffee communities. This particular road leads to UNIHITRICO -Unified Higaonon Tribal Council - Brgy. Tignapoloan in Cagayan de Oro.
waiting for the Liberica babies to germinate 🤗“ngayon lang kami nakakita ng ganito klaseng semilya ng kape”.
the following morning before leaving for our fourth community in this leg, Richard & Bae Yayang bid us farewell and “Amping” . Portulin is looking forward to trading their improved arabicas & robustas at a better price
The third community was Portulin in Pangantucan. This is my third time to visit and the kids immediately run to you and gamely pose for a picture. Dato Johnny and Bae Yayang have been taking care of the Portulin Talaandig Tribal Association Inc making sure that their more than 6,000 hectares ancestral land with 4,000 hectares virgin forest remain in their ownership & possession for the next succeeding generations. They have already recorded & validated 14 generations of their ancestry
Dato Santiano at 72 yrs of age, watches their nursery like an expectant father . He called their cooperators for an impromptu ‘kwentuhan’ . I observed that he commands respect.
Brgy Tignapoloan is deep inside the mountains of Cagayan de Oro.. The area used to be planted with robusta being bought at low price, in spite of all the 4C trainings. We’re now planting Liberica coffees - higher value replacement for Robusta.
we still have yet to see 100% target seedlings of 10,000 trees in their community... but the 20 cooperators of NAMAMAYUK are positive about their arabica coffees. In this nursery, Dato Elpidio and I had a agreement sealed with a handshake and eye to eye contact
The Talaandig are naturally and admittedly shy compared to their brothers, the Manobos. Each of their homes are adorned with bermuda grass outside
signage of Sitio Catal at 1,200 meters above sea level
NAMAMAYUK - Nagkahiusang Manobong Manunod sa Yutang Kabilin . Bacusanon Pangantucan, Bukidnon .
Sabi ko kay Dato Elpidio “sorry natagalan kami”. Sagot niya, “ok lang! nalampasan nyo ang putik?”
We showed them their future in coffee by showing them quality arabica GCBs and the community branded coffees which they can have one day soon...
Dato Bobby & Bae Yayang will not say good night until I had my glass of wine... they have home stay in Portulin for foreigners & locals to experience their 300 yr old bonsai trees in their bonsai area at 2,000 meters, virgin forests, falls, and their very lively culture
The children did not let go of Basil Reyes (driver sweet lover & kusinero) until they had to go home for supper.
we designed and fabricates this ‘itakure’ stainless steel filter specifically for farmers to brew their coffee grounds. after 4-5 years as a gift to Dato Johnny when he went to our office before, I was soooo happy to see it in their kitchen, still dripping wet as they regularly use it to brew their coffee in the ‘takure’ kettle
