ZAMBOANGA CITY — The Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) will intensify its efforts to boost the region’s coffee industry, aiming to further improve its competitiveness and promote growth to enhance the region’s coffee landscape.

 Minister Abuamri A. Taddik of the Ministry of Trade, Investments and Tourism (MTIT) said yesterday that his ministry and partners will intensify their efforts to boost the region’s coffee industry.

 Taddik said the Regional Coffee Council will lead efforts to improve the  production standards and  expand market access.

 The council will also build partnerships, positioning the council to drive growth and raise BARMM’s profile in the national coffee industry.

 “Recognizing the region’s potential as an emerging contributor to the Philippine coffee industry, stakeholders prioritized the establishment of a formal and inclusive Regional Coffee Council to address growing domestic demand and foster long-term development,” the minister of MTIT said.

 In Sulu province, Gov. Abdusakur M Tan said yesterday that the Federation of Sulu Coffee Producers Cooperative is maintaining a 68-hectare coffee farm.

 Tan said the federation has about 10 coffee cooperatives spread all over Sulu with a total of 3,415 coffee trees.

 The governor said, “We subjected our coffee for quality assurance evaluation in Davao recently and based on the test result, our Sulu coffee was ranked 4th in the entire country, and regarded as high-quality Robusta.”