Coffee farmers in Hermosa, Bataan can now manufacture their own coffee beans into quality coffee products.

This, as the Department of Agriculture Regional Field Office in Central Luzon (DA RFO3) turned over Wednesday to New Hermosa Farmers Association, a coffee processing facility in Barangay Mabiga that is seen to boost coffee bean production and trade in the town and the nearby areas.

The project was funded under DA RFO3’s High-Value Crops Development Program (HVCDP) amounting to PHP949,757.

The facility is expected to help the members of the association raise the level of their competency in making high-quality coffee products from their locally-harvested coffee beans.

DA RFO3 field operations chief Elma Mananes is optimistic that the new facility will increase the income of the members of the New Hermosa Farmers Association out of farming and processing coffee.

“Iyon naman po lagi ang hangad ng Department of Agriculture para sa mga magsasaka na magkaroon ng dagdag na kita para makatulong sa pamumuhay ng ating mga magsasaka (This is always the desire of the Department of Agriculture for the farmers to have an additional income),” Mananes said in social media post on Thursday.

Gerald Glenn Panganiban, director of the National High-Value Crops Development Program, meanwhile, asked the farmers and the local government officials to work together to adopt the appropriate assistance.

“Ang gusto natin ay maging sustainable ang ginagawa natin. Kung ano pong akma na teknolohiya ay iyon po ang aming ibibigay sa inyo (We want what we are doing is to be sustainable. We will give to you whatever is the proper technology),” Panganiban said.

Godofredo Felipe, the group’s chairperson, thanked the DA for granting them the facility and assured of the sustainability of the facility and their livelihood. (PNA)