Filipinos have long known their coffee, a factor that once positioned the country to become a major coffee producer. 

However, a wave of plant diseases and years of government neglect led to the industry’s decline.
Now, the Department of Agriculture (DA) is seeking to revive it through a master plan to develop Sultan Kudarat, the country’s coffee capital, fully.

Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr., in a Daily Tribune interview, said DA will spearhead investments in more farm-to-market roads in Sultan Kudarat to encourage more coffee planters.

Tiu Laurel said premium coffee seedlings will be distributed to Sultan Kudarat farmers to increase their harvest and income.

“President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. instructed me to strengthen our coffee industry anew. We will start with Sultan Kudarat early in 2026,” Tiu Laurel said.

The industry has a storied past: it rose to global prominence in the 19th century, then collapsed, followed by decades of stagnation and recent signs of revival.

Coffee was introduced to the Philippines around 1740 by Spanish friars, initially in Lipa, Batangas, using seeds from Mexico. 

An oft-repeated story is that a Franciscan monk brought three gantas (approximately 2 kilos) of Arabica beans to the country, planted them in his garden, and after which the coffee trees were transplanted to other areas in Luzon.

Production boomed under colonial promotion, spreading to regions like Cavite and Batangas. By 1880, the Philippines ranked fourth among the world’s coffee exporters.

From 1887 to 1889, when coffee rust devastated crops in Brazil, Africa and Java, the Philippines briefly became the world’s sole coffee supplier, ushering in a golden age for the Philippine brew and bringing prosperity, especially in Lipa, as high European demand for local beans drove prices higher. 

The industry’s collapse began in 1889 due to a fungal disease called coffee leaf rust (Hemileia vastatrix), which destroyed vast plantations, compounded by insect infestations such as coffee borers. 

By 1891, production had plummeted to one-sixth of its peak, wiping out Batangas trees and prompting landowners to switch to sugarcane or other cash crops. 

Brazil quickly reclaimed dominance amid the vacuum left by the drop in Philippine coffee production. 

Resilient coffee trade

Recovery efforts in the mid-20th century introduced rust-resistant varieties (like Robusta) with US assistance, but challenges persisted, mainly low productivity from both aging trees — many over 40 years old — and farmers, with an average age of 57. 

Then, land conversion to real estate, urbanization and crop shifting decimated the once leading coffee-producing regions. Global price declines in the 1970s and a lack of government support worsened the sector’s fate. 

Local production steadily declined from over 50,000 metric tons (MT) in the 1990s to under 30,000 MT recently, with an average annual decline of 3.5 percent over the decades. 

The country now ranks outside the top global producers, with an estimated 90 percent Robusta, used in instant coffee, and minor shares of Arabica, Liberica (Barako) and Excelsa. 

The industry remains small-scale but shows promise amid booming local consumption of about 2.4 kg/year per capita and a specialty coffee boom. 

Specialty shops grew by 40 percent from 2020 to 2023, and 60 percent of drinkers are interested in single-origin Philippine beans. 

Pacita Juan, president and co-chair of the Philippine Coffee Board Inc. (PCBI), said the availability of coffee seedlings should be a priority.

“We lack accredited nurseries; we need to localize nurseries and teach farmers how they can have their own community nurseries. So, we are talking to the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) if that can be done,” she said.

Juan added that at present, coffee farmers who would like to test their soils and crops have to personally go to the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City.

The group said that the country’s demand for coffee is between 150,000 MT and 200,000 MT, while production is only around 30,000 MT to 33,000 MT, with the balance of 120,000 MT being met by imports.

DA programs such as the Mindanao Coffee Robusta Project and the High-Value Crops Development Program allocated millions of pesos for fertilizers, centers, and regenerative agriculture, in collaboration with the private sector. 

Local roadmaps, such as sustaining Sultan Kudarat as the “Coffee Capital” and the revival projects in Cavite and Batangas, aim to plant 1 million trees. 

Tiu Laurel said after Sultan Kudarat, the DA would focus next on enhancing Bukidnon’s coffee production in the second half of next year.

Sultan Kudarat Gov. Datu Pax Ali Mangudadatu welcomed the agriculture department’s renewed effort to perk up the coffee industry.

“Coffee is an important industry in our province with at least 20,000 families dependent on coffee growing for their livelihood,” the governor said.

To back up its development thrust, the DA had unveiled a program for the immediate release of around P700 million for the domestic coffee industry.

Tiu Laurel said the amount makes up about 70 percent of the first P1 billion to be released from the P4 billion Competitiveness Enhancement Measures Fund (CEMF).

If the allocation improves the competitiveness of the industry in the global market, the next CEMF draw of a fresh P1 billion may all be funneled to the coffee sector.

Half of the safeguard duties, fees and other charges collected by the government on imports is remitted to the CEMF, which serves as a financing mechanism for programs that strengthen local industries.

Tiu Laurel said that coffee bean production failed to meet the 200,000 tons of local demand annually.

“We are importing that amount. So, if we can produce one ton per hectare, we need to plant 200,000 hectares,” assessed the DA chief.

Reclaiming the once lofty place of Philippine coffee, thus, rests on the success of Sultan Kudarat, which will be a pilot site for the industry’s revival.