Writer: Prangthong Jitcharoenkul, Junior Communication Officer, GIZ Thailand’s Agriculture and Food Cluster
The first strategy and roadmap for Robusta coffee have been endorsed for the first time to improve the value chain of local coffee beans of Chumphon province and the farmers’ livelihoods.
Robusta coffee grown in the South, Chumphon in particular, has long been threatened by several factors, including declining prices, free trade agreement, climate change, a change in market trends and rapidly-changing consumer behavior.
According to the meeting organized by the Sub-Committee on Agricultural and Cooperative Development on 13 February 2020, the five-year roadmap, starting from 2020 – 2024, covers a wide range of issues such as increasing yields and quality of coffee beans, improving coffee processing to ensure unique character of Robusta coffee, and greater access to domestic and global markets.
Prior to the meeting, Mr. Wibun Rattanapornwong, Governor of Chumphon Province, also attended the workshop entitled: Strategy and Roadmap Development for Robusta Coffee of Chumphon Province which was held on 20 November 2019.
“This meeting will draw a new chapter of Chumphon’s Robusta History”, Mr. Wibun told more than 70 participants, many of them are from farming cooperatives and community businesses and private sector, during his opening remarks.
According to Wannipa Soda, Government Liaison and Coffee Productivity Manager of the Improving Smallholder Coffee Farming Systems in Southeast Asia (Coffee+) project, who also among the participants, the roadmap consists of three phases; Phase I – Preparation (2020), Phase II – Implementation (2021-2022) and Phase III – Expansion towards Sustainability (2023-2024).
Coffee+ Project energizes government partners to take ownership on implementation of of Thailand’s Coffee Strategic Plan. The local government of Chumphon province, including those from private sector, have jointly pushed ahead with the development of the first roadmap for local small-scale farmers who grow Robusta Coffee iin Chumphon province.