Agusan del Sur bets big on upland coffee in logged highlands

SAN FRANCISCO, Agusan del Sur — Where chainsaws and slash-and-burn farming once tore through ancestral frontiers, provincial leaders are now betting that specialty coffee can brew an economic turnaround for isolated mountain villages.

On Wednesday, local officials led by Agusan del Sur 2nd District Rep. Adolph Edward Plaza climbed the winding slopes of Barangay Padiay, Sibagat town, to inspect a 45-hectare model plantation—the pilot of an envisioned 100-hectare commercial coffee corridor.

The initiative aims to clone the success of neighboring Bukidnon, which has gained national acclaim and premium cupping awards over the past decade for its specialty Arabica coffee.

READ: The Philippines’ coffee paradox

Plaza, fresh off a benchmarking mission across Bukidnon’s highland estates, joined 1st District Rep. Alfel Bascug and Vice Gov. Patricia Plaza in inspecting the site under the province’s flagship Upland Sustainable Agri-Forestry Development (USAD) program.

The move signals a structural shift away from short-term relief subsidies in favor of sustainable, high-value agroforestry.

The upper reaches of Sibagat, stretching across the rugged Diwata mountain range toward Surigao del Sur and Agusan del Norte, are heavily covered by Certificate of Ancestral Domain Titles (CADTs), where both legal and illegal timber trade flourished, including villages like Padiay.

For generations, upland residents earned a living felling hardwood and skidding flitches using carabaos or floating logs down swollen tributaries toward illicit buyers waiting along the Maharlika Highway and Butuan trade corridors.

But provincial officials now want to swap the logging chain for the coffee supply chain.

“It is a great privilege for our village to be the pioneer of the provincial coffee plantation,” Crisaldo Behing, Padiay village chief, said in Bisaya.

 “This is not just additional income for our farmers here, but a model for the entire province,” he added.

Technical assessments earlier this year confirmed that Sibagat’s elevation, soil composition, and cool microclimates match the country’s top bean-producing regions. Ceremonial planting began in July, adopting Bukidnon’s shade-canopy systems, soil management practices, and strict seedling standards.

During the inspection, officials evaluated pilot plots across varying elevations.

READ: Can the Philippines grow its way to coffee self-sufficiency?

In the foothills, USAD beneficiary Saturnino Sumanda demonstrated thriving rows of Robusta, while higher up the ridgeline, grower Arsenio Salahay presented terraced Arabica holdings and a clan-run nursery propagating thousands of disease-resilient seedlings.

Behing said perfecting production and postharvest handling on the initial 49 hectares will establish the operational discipline needed before scaling across the entire 100-hectare target./coa