LIPA CITY, Batangas — Batangas was once famous as the coffee capital of the Philippines and was a top exporter of the in-demand beans around the world until disaster struck. Lifestyle Feature ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch:The problem, according to Mercado, is that younger generations are no longer interested in coffee planting. When Mercado started planting coffee, the price was only P50 per kilo, now it has gone up to P200. Aside from distributing free coffee seedlings to farmers, Mandanas said the provincial agriculture office will provide technical assistance to ensure an integrated approach. It will ake us 10 years to restore Batangas' reputation as the Philippines' coffee capital, but we need to show that there's money in planting and buying barako coffee," Mandanas said.

Source: Philippine Star October 26, 2017 04:30 UTC