The Department of Agriculture (DA) is ramping up efforts to expand the Philippines’ coffee industry, earmarking a substantial amount for a farm-to-market road network that would open up vast tracks of land in Sultan Kudarat.
Agriculture Secretary Francisco P. Tiu Laurel Jr. said the planned infrastructure will improve access to remote agricultural areas, a long-standing constraint that has limited large-scale crop development in parts of Mindanao.
“We have earmarked P2.5 billion for a farm-to-market road network that will provide access to 29,000 hectares of land… that we hope to develop to increase domestic coffee production,” he said.
The move signals a strategic pivot toward higher-value crops, as policymakers look to raise farm incomes while reducing the country’s heavy dependence on imported coffee. With beans now selling at around P300 per kilo, the income potential is significant. Even at a modest yield of one ton per hectare—based on production models used by Nestlé—farmers could earn at least P300,000 per harvest.
Tiu Laurel said there is room to push yields higher. He pointed to Thailand, where farms can produce up to three tons per hectare, suggesting that local output could realistically double with better inputs, technology and farm access.
Coffee farming, harvested once annually with peak seasons from November to February, still compares favorably to staple crops. At current prices, a hectare planted to coffee can generate roughly 30 percent more income than a similarly sized rice field harvested twice a year—underscoring its appeal as a diversification crop for farmers.
Still, the Philippines faces a steep climb toward self-sufficiency. Even if all newly accessible land is planted to coffee, domestic production will likely fall short of demand. The U.S. Department of Agriculture projects Philippine coffee imports to rise nearly 10 percent to about 378,000 metric tons, sourced mainly from Vietnam and Indonesia.
Demand continues to surge, driven by a rapidly expanding café culture and rising consumption, now estimated at 3.78 kilograms per person—among the highest in Asia.
Undersecretary Jerome Oliveros, who has been designated to oversee the development of coffee and cacao crops, said that Sultan Kudarat is just one of the provinces in Mindanao identified by the Department of Agriculture (DA) to help drive self-sufficiency in coffee. Other areas, such as Bukidnon, Davao del Sur, and Agusan del Sur, will be incorporated into the planned Mindanao Special Reserve Areas for Coffee Industry Development, he added.
Oliveros explained that by clustering these areas, development interventions can be implemented more efficiently and economies of scale can be achieved. “We need to develop an additional 100,000 hectares to achieve self-sufficiency in coffee,” he said.
For the DA, the strategy is to build infrastructure first, then intensify productivity. By opening up land and improving logistics, the government hopes to crowd in private investment, scale up production, and gradually narrow a widening supply gap in one of the country’s most in-demand commodities.
