(Editor’s note: This is a three-part series on the growing coffee scene in Davao Region) DAVAO Region is known to be a major food basket in the country due to the variety of crops and fruits it produces. It is popular for the durian and pomelo. It is also known as the country’s top producer…
What if every Filipino, no matter where they’re based in the country, can be a “force for good” simply by sticking to routine—like, say, enjoying their morning cup of coffee? Davao-based Coffee for Peace (CFP) proves this can be the case as its CEO and co-founder Felicitas “Joji” B. Pantoja confirms that they are a…
Filipinos have developed a fondness for coffee, from instant coffee that eventually leveled up to 3-in-1 and of course, the brewed coffee. With the four varieties of commercially available coffee beans − Arabica, Liberica or Barako, Excelsa, and Robusta, this has shaped the lifestyle of many Filipinos and for this reason, the Philippine market has…
CEBU, Philippines — Coffee for Peace, Inc., is inviting Cebuano coffee drinkers, coffee entrepreneurs and coffee farmers alike to be social advocates by patronizing local grown beans of high quality. Coffee for Peace in Davao is a community of peacebuilders, business owners, and farmers practicing and advocating inclusive development principles in the coffee industry. Social…
FELICITAS B. PANTOJA, founder and chief executive officer of Coffee for Peace, said the organization will open a new café on the third floor of the Ayala Abreeza Mall in Davao City, free of rent, which is expected to mitigate some of the risks from the pandemic-constrained market…
Years of conflict and illegal logging have left swathes of land in the Philippine island of Mindanao in a poor state, but community involvement and modern farming practices introduced by companies like Coffee for Peace are now bringing change.
In the Philippines there is a lot of conflict between the Christians and Muslims living there. This has caused a lot of violence and has created a cycle of poverty. Coffee for Peace uses coffee to help the people that have been affected by the poor situations that they are in.
Coffee for Peace (CFP) teaches coffee processing and plantation management to indigenous communities torn by armed conflicts, illegal logging, and irresponsible mining. The company also links the coffee farmers to local and international markets. Before CFP’s intervention, the coffee farmers only made between P30-P50 per kilo of coffee. These coffee growers now supply high quality beans to Canada, the United States, and Switzerland. To date, CFP has trained over 600 farmers who can sell their coffee beans for as much as P250 per kilo. These farmers have also raised their monthly incomes to at least P9,000 per month…
They were caught between the crossfire of an all-out war waged by the government then. They lived in fear and they constantly moved about, for self-preservation. They got tired of being bakwits (refugees) in their own homeland. They decided to fight back and take control of their lives. So off they went to the mountains…
MANILA, Philippines – From a political activist to being a peace activist, Joji Pantoja knows what transformation can do to a person