Background and Rationale

Among the famous products of the people of Kalinga is coffee. Most of the Villages of Upper Tabuk grow coffee as the main source of income. Coffee is considered as green gold especially the cost of it is going higher and higher every year. Most of the coffee growers use traditional and sustainable methods of producing coffee. Despite the high quality, most beans are sold as raw, unprocessed green coffee at low prices thus limiting income potential for the coffee farm growers. REFUGE land is not excluded in such status of coffee farm owners. The project area grows about one hectare of coffee. During the previous years since REFUGE had acquired the property, the harvest helped in sustaining the operational cost on the coffee and food requirements of the construction laborers from the start to the completion of the building. As an experience in the recent produce, REFUGE encountered the difficulty in transporting the dried coffee beans from the coffee sheller to the Coffee Roaster and Grinder as these facilities are in other villages about 20 to 25 kilometers away. This is coupled with the absence of skills in packaging and marketing of our produce. Relative to this the management had planned and decided to establish a Coffee Processing Facility for better quality of produce and with an added value on it. Establishing a Coffee Processing Facility in the area will enable coffee growers to roast, grind and package their own coffee, adding value to the produce thereby contributing in strengthening the province’s brand as a premium coffee origin. The project would then be among the potential financial sources of REFUGE in sustaining its basic services to its residents and operations.

Project Objectives

• To establish a fully operational coffee processing facility
• Generates incomes to sustain the programs and services of REFUGE and its operation thereby reducing its dependency on donations and Improves farmers’ income
• It produces high-quality roasted and ground coffee for local, national and even possible to international alliance thereby promoting Kalinga coffee as a premium brand.

Budgetary Requirements