About the Course:
As of 2021, Philippines has been known for producing Arabica, Robusta, and Excelsa coffee varieties, and was once a major global coffee exporter. However, over the years, coffee production in the country faced challenges, and its global market share diminished. One of the problems in coffee farming is its difficulty in harvest scheduling. Different varieties of coffee growing in different climatic types set a different harvesting time. It is a challenge for every farmer to harvest coffee beans at the right time and at its best quality. Furthermore, coffee growers and would-be processors lack awareness on national coffee standards and the existing grading system. As a result, processed beans get a substandard coffee grade and only fetch a low price.
In this course, students will learn about the solution of SARAI on this problem. Through their project titled “Phenology Studies, Crop Management and Model Development for Coffee and Cacao”, CAPHE or the Coffee Application Harvest Estimator was developed. CAPHE is a mobile application that can give you advisories per growth stage of coffee and will tell you when the best time is to harvest its beans. Subsequently, students will be guided on the appropriate primary processing method to use up to drying the beans; and finally how to do sorting and grading.