The country produced some 6,000 metric tons of coffee last year (1978). In the process, the farmers threw away almost 3,000 metric tons of coffee pulp from which they got the coffee beans. Had they know that coffee pulp can be used for other profitable activities, they would have earned more. Cattle raising for example. Studies conducted by A.R.M. Caveses in Venezuela, a country in South America, showed that if one replaces sorghum with dried coffee pulp in the feed for fatteners, the animal could gain an average of 87 kilo a day. Coffee pulp is good enough as feed ingredients, cavesses said, because it is rich in energy and is much cheaper than, say, sorghum. The only problem, however, is that coffee pulp has a taste and odor that cattle do not like. But this problem can be avoided by limiting the amount of coffee pulp in the feed to 30 per cent. At this level, coffee pulp will supply the energy needed by the fatteners without affecting the appetite of the cattle. This formula can also be followed for milking cows, according to a collection of research studies edited by J.E. Braham and R. Bressani of the institute of nutrition of Central American and Panama (INCAP) and publish by International Development Research Center of Canada. According to the book, coffee pulp can replace the expensive grains in the feed concentrate for the milking cows without affecting their production of milk. The replacement, however, should be made gradual until coffee pulp is 20 to 30 percent of the concentrate feed. Beyond 30 percent, however, coffee pulp will not only reduce their ability to absorb nitrogen, one of the things they need in the complex process of protein production within their body. (e2 ung sa me article n turn those pulp into profit)
Ang kape (coffe) ay karaniwa’y isang beverage crop lamang bagama’t ito’y ginagamit ding flavoring sa mga candy, cakes at ice cream. Ang balat at sapal nito ay mahusay sa fertilizer. Coffee is almost as important as oil in the world economy. It ranks among the top agricultural products in the international market. It is also one of the largest traded commodities in the world. Maraming bentaha sa pagtatanim ng kape: una na dito ang malaking kita mula sa trading ng coffee beans, sa domestic market at higit sa foreign market. Apat ang uri ng commercial coffe beans na itinatanim ditto sa bansa: Arabica is the best quality coffee with excellent flavors and aroma; Robusta is high yielding, constitutes the bulk of processed coffee, and more resistant to pest and diseases; Liberica, known locally as kapeng barako, has a very strong taste and flavor, starts bearing 4-5 years after transplanting, and could yield 1 metric ton green coffee per hectare; Excelsa is resistant to drought, nematodes and coffee rust, and has better flavor and aroma than Robusta and Liberica; starts bearing 4-5 years after transplanting. (e2 ung sa article n mag kape tayo)
The country produces an estimated 80,000 to 90,000 metric tons of coffee a year. This is considered low and could be because most of the trees all over the country are old and unproductive. Ten to 25-years-old coffee trees, or those even older, have only a few productive branches in their upper portion and they are unprofitable because of their low yield. Coffee trees bear fruit only in new wood, particularly in the nodes of lateral branches. Nodes that had already fruited will not bear berries again. The trees will bear berries only in the nodes of secondary and tertiary laterals. These branches are usually high up in the tree, making harvesting difficult. If old coffee trees are not adequately fertilized, they will bear few fruit, many of them black berries. This contributes to the very low yield per hectare. To make old coffee trees productive again, coffee experts recommend their rejuvenated trees become vigorous, more resistant to pests and diseases, and more convenient to prune, spray and harvest. The berries they produce are bigger and there are less black ones. The Coffee Exporter Association of the Philippines (CEAP), in cooperation of Planters products inc., has launched a nationwide coffee plantation rejuvenation program. The objective of the program is to make coffee plantations produce 200,000 metric tons in 1989-1990. According to a CEAP officer, if 25 per cent of trees are rejuvenated this year, coffee farmers will earn P8 billion without increasing the area planted to the crop. At present, the estimated 100,000 coffee farmers earn only P3.2 billion. The coffee rejuvenation program requires systematic pruning and application of a well-balanced fertilizer mixtures to old coffee trees to allow them to grow more fruit-bearing lateral branches. Jimmy Santiago, former agricultural service manager of Nestle Philippines who worked for 24 years in coffee production, recommends three methods of rejuvenating coffee trees – cutting by rotation of verticals within the tree, cutting of trees in alternate rows, and cutting trees in blocks. In the first system, if a tree has four vertical stems, these are remove one by one (one stem per year) following a circular pattern. In the second system, all trees in alternative rows are rejuvenated in one year and those in the remaining rows the following year. In the third system, all trees in a certain block are rejuvenated. The plantation is divided into blocks and rejuvenation is done block by block (one block per year). The rejuvenation program does not consist only of cutting the stem of old coffee plants to make them produce sprout. It also entails proper, prompt and well balanced fertilization. It’s at this time that the plants needs most the food nutrients to survive the “major operation.” The rejuvenated tree needs vitamins and minerals to recuperate faster. (e2 ung article na you can make your old coffee trees productive again)
