Here’s the latest update on the plantation: With the end of planting season last year, we undertook maintenance activities for the plantation, getting ring weeding done for the coffee trees and clearing some of the re-growth. We also pruned the coffee trees to help them grow better by getting rid of sick or dried branchesContinue reading “2015 Planning and BCCPC Election”
Author Archives: bugkalotcoffee
Plantation Update
It’s already November and we now have approximately 80,000-85,000 coffee seedlings planted on an area of approximately 85 hectares! There are another 100,000 seedlings in the nursery waiting to be planted next rainy season. We have stopped planting this year, as rainy season comes to an end. We will now begin the management & maintenanceContinue reading “Plantation Update”
Planting Process
Since the last post, we’ve been moving quickly with the planting process. Here are some photos showing the various activities involved:
Clearing and Planting
Latest Plantation Update: We have started the planning process and are well underway with the initial clearing! Equipment and supplies for land preparation, layout and planting have been purchased and delivered, and we are working quickly to start getting the trees transferred from the nursery and planted into the ground. Our hope is that beforeContinue reading “Clearing and Planting”
Coffee Growing At A Glance
There are four varieties of coffee – Arabica, Liberica (or Barako), Excelsa, and Robusta. Robusta is the primary variety used in instant coffee (~70% cheaper than Arabica), though other varieties are also blended in, in some cases. Coffee cherries are produced 8-9 months after the tree flowers. The cherries are picked (strip picked or selectivelyContinue reading “Coffee Growing At A Glance”
Almost Ready to Plant
This July, we hosted a group of visitors from the United States to visit the site, check out the nursery and survey the planned plantation site. The group spent a couple of days visiting the community, meeting people, learning about their history and getting to know the Bugkalot Coffee Company (BCC) team as well. Having theContinue reading “Almost Ready to Plant”
Potting Stage
We are currently preparing the nursery for the potting stage. At this stage the seedlings are taken out of the beds they have been in and placed into individual pots. Currently the nursery is undergoing construction to accommodate this stage of the process. We are adding 3/4 of a hector of land to the nurseryContinue reading “Potting Stage”
What the Seedlings Look like Now
The seedlings are very healthy. Normally you estimate that about 25% of the seedlings will not survive. Our nursery has done extremely well we have only lost about 10%-15%. We are very happy with how well the plants are doing and that we now have more seedlings than we were expecting.
The Nursery
The nursery has been up since the beginning of March and is doing very well. The plants are healthy and are being well taken care of. It is only the beginning and the nursery is already providing some jobs for the Bugkalot.
Reforestation
The Bugkalot have protected their lands and their forests from the plague of illegal logging that has denuded and destroyed much of the Philippines’ forest cover and the Bugkalot Ancestral Domain which is a national treasure. However, there are significant areas of thin and denuded cover resulting from natural events and traditional ‘slash and burn’Continue reading “Reforestation”
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