For those who do not know… the Benguet State University (BSU) Arabica Coffee has been certified Organic Coffee by the Institute for Marketecology (IMO) through the Figaro Foundation Corporation of the Figaro Coffee Company. BSU supplies Figaro with Arabica coffee— that coffee lovers drink in malls.

The Organic Arabica Coffee Project is being headed by Prof Valentino Macanes. He is also the Director of the Institute of Highland Farming Systems and Agroforestry (IHFSA), that spearheads the development, dissemination and utilization of agroforestry, sericulture, and other farming systems technologies for highland farmers.

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The Environmental Network of the Philippines, Inc. (EENP) hosted the International Conference on Environmental Education at the Banaue Hotel in Banaue, Ifugao last May 4-7, 2008. It was attended by SUCs, LGUs, NGOs, Pos and Government Line Agencies throughout the country and by foreign delegates from the US Department of Agriculture and Duke University, Myanmar, Cambodia, Korea, Japan, Pakistan and Europe.

                There were a total of 40 papers for oral presentation and 43 scientific poster entries, of which the BSU poster presented by Prof. Valentino L. Macanes entitled “The Arabica Coffee-Pine Based Agroforestry System: A Technology for Watershed Conservation and People’s Livelihood Developed by the Benguet State University”, won the BEST Scientific Poster.

                According to Prof. Macanes, the notable accomplishment of the congress was the passing of an EENP Board Resolution to the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) for the adoption of the Dark Green School Initiative of the EENP by the SUCs. If it is adopted, it will be used for accreditation of SUCs, especially those offering the Forestry and Environment Courses. Commissioner Saturnieno M. Ocampo Jr. promised to study and sponsor the resolution.

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So  you want to buy BSU’s arabica coffee?

You can buy the coffee that the BSU Marketing Center. Take a jeepney ride to La Trinidad at the Magsaysay or City Hall (Baguio) and tell the driver to drop you at the BSU 2nd gate (you will see the Epiphany Church across the gate). And to save you time, you can call the Marketing Center at (074) 422-4650 and check for its availability because of its popular demand… it does not stay long in the shelves.

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