CAVITE: GOOD GROUNDS FOR A FESTIVAL
February 25th, 2010 Posted in Philippine Festivals and EventsAMADEO, CAVITE, February 23, 2004 (MALAYA) By SANDRA DIEZ – A TRIP to Amadeo, Cavite in February is a bit like traveling to Baguio City. As soon as you cross the junction that diverts to the towns of Silang and Indang, a cool, clean breeze grazes your skin while a heady perfume of coffee flowers fills your nostrils. The experience is quite enervating and offers the perfect excuse to escape Metro Manila, if only for a day. It’s no wonder then why throngs of serious cyclists pedal from as far away as Novaliches to pass through Amadeo on their way to nearby Tagaytay.
Last Saturday, Amadeo held its annual Pahimis festival which gave visitors another excellent reason to enjoy its rural charm and sample its famous produce: barako cofee.
Like many famous Philippine festivals, lively street-dancing marked the opening of the Pahimis as early as 7:00 a.m. Music blared from a sidewalk chain of loudspeakers as contingents from the different schools, organizations and barangays danced their way down the main route. Everyone was dressed in creative and colorful costumes decorated with the leaves, seeds (beans) and flowers of the coffee plant.
Now on its third year, the two-day Pahimis festival was originally conceptualized not only as a rite of thanksgiving by the people of Amadeo, many of whom have grown coffee for generations, but to bring national attention to the plight of the local coffee industry, as well.
In the 1970s, the Philippines devoted 160,000 hectares for coffee trees and was known as the world’s fourth largest producer of coffee, with Liberica or Kapeng Barako as its pride. Life changed for many growers when the United States withdrew from the international quota system in 1989, causing prices to plunge and farmers to shift to other crops. Today, only 80,000 hectares remain. From being an exporter of some $15 million worth of coffee, the Philippines is now a net importer of the most traded commodity second only to petroleum. This year alone, the country is estimated to import about P1.4 billion worth of coffee beans from Vietnam and Indonesia. But things are looking up for the country’s coffee industry – and the Pahimis has helped in many ways.
In last year’s festival, large crowds packed the streets of Amadeo to view the parade, games, shows, and other events with no less than President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as keynote speaker. This year was as well attended. Amadeo Mayor Albert “OJ”Ambagan Jr, who at 26 is one of the country’s youngest mayors, welcomed a distinguished roster of guests that included Department of Agriculture Secretary Luis “Cito” Lorenzo, Department of Tourism OIC Robert Dean Barbers, Vietnamese Ambassador Din Tich, John Jessup, EVP for Technical Division of Nestle Philippines, and Nicholas Matti, co-chair of the National Coffee Development Board.
“Since the government started its programs to save the coffee industry, production has reached 40 thousand tons from a low of 25 thousand tons, ” said Secretary Lorenzo. “As of the third week of January this year, the price of coffee from P25 is now P45 per kilo. This is good news for many of our coffee growers, ” he added. Lorenzo also stressed the value of the Pahimis festival as “an important means to boost confidence in the local coffee industry.”
Likewise, “the Pahiyas is an ideal example for agro-tourism,” said PTA General Manager and Tourism OIC Robert Dean Barbers. “It draws attention to Amadeo and Cavite as a tourist destination while providing a glimpse into the agricultural lifestyle of coffee growers and a venue of exchange of information on coffee,” he added.
Among the events lined up for Pahimis 2004 were a coffee trade fair and exhibit participated in by coffee sellers such as Nescafe, Cafe Puro and Great Taste and other allied businesses; Farm Tours; Laro ng Lahi (indigenous games); Awitan ng Kundiman; an on-the-spot photo contest organized by the Federation of Philippine Photographers Foundation; Coffee seminars on Modern Farm Practices and Management and Idle Land Utilization; Investors Forum and Adopt-a-Farm Forum; awards for Model Farmer and Farm and Model Adopt-A-Farm; Valentines Night of music and dance and a fashion show of coffee wearables.
As early as the 1800s, Amadeo, a 4,790-hectare uphill town of 26,000 people, located 1,400 feet above sea level and 60 kilometers south of Manila, was already known for its coffee plantations with at least 4,000 hectares pegged on coffee farming. Today, its total coffee area has dwindled to only 2,300 hectares.
With the help of the National Coffee Development Board (NCDB), a private sector-led organization seeking to revive the country’s ailing coffee industry, Amadeo hopes to rehabilitate 1,500 hectares of its coffee plantations.
Amadeo is actually the local government model of the 10-year national coffee master plan for the rehabilitation of 20,000 hectares of coffee plantations in 22 provinces including Cavite and Sultan Kudarat, the country’s largest coffee producers. The Board’s overall target is to expand coffee farming to 22,000 more hectares and in the process create 88,000 new jobs.
The NCDB, which is co-chaired by Pacita “Chit” Juan of Figaro Coffee chains and Nicholas A. Matti of Negros Coffee and Grains, launched the Adopt- A-Coffee Farm project in Amadeo three years ago, in order to bring in capital for the rehabilitation program. With this initiative was born the Kape Isla concept, which seeks to build loyalty to the brand, enhance consumption, boost production and create new jobs. At least 22 coffee merchants are now carrying the Kape Isla seal, including coffee chains Starbucks, Seattle’s Best Coffee and Figaro.
Today’s local coffee industry may still has a long way to but the people of Amadeo have achieved much in planting the first seeds. And if things continue to progress as it does, it will not take long before the Philippines regains its position among the world’s coffee exporters.
This is an article from PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE
Reported by: Sol Jose Vanzi
Tags: cavite festival, cavite tourism, events in the philippines, filipino foods, food service, food supplies, philippine festivals, summer party
