Dedicated DA office to oversee coffee industry

AGRICULTURE Secretary Francisco P. Tiu Laurel, Jr. ordered the creation of a dedicated Coffee Industry Development Office (CIDO) to centralize oversight of the crop, the Department of Agriculture (DA) said.

Department Order No. 06 puts CIDO under the Office of the Undersecretary for Special Concerns and Official Development Assistance (ODA), now headed by Undersecretary Jerome V. Oliveros.

The DA draws the power to create the office from Executive Order No. 292, or the Administrative Code of 1987. It empowers the DA to support domestic and export-oriented agriculture.

Mr. Laurel said coffee has long been treated as a minor crop and now demands full attention.

The DA said coffee consumption is booming while domestic production has lagged. Mr. Laurel noted that coffee farmers are ageing while access to inputs is limited and equipment outdated.

The DA said the creation of CIDO as a standalone office “signals a shift from side-line management to a focused, strategic approach.”

All coffee development funds, including those under the High Value Crops Development Program and the Office of the Secretary, will now be controlled by CIDO, the DA said.

Mr. Laurel said “We cannot keep talking about the promise of Philippine coffee while farmers grow older, yields stagnate and imports rise,” he said.

“By creating CIDO under focused leadership, we are putting strategy, funding and execution in one accountable office. This is about restoring competitiveness and making sure Filipino coffee farmers finally capture the value of a market that is already growing around them,” he said.