The municipal government here is targeting to plant at least 5,000 coffee trees a year, or 25,000 trees in the next five years, to increase production and support environmental protection at the same time.

“We encourage our barangay officials and residents to plant coffee, which is also one way of reducing the effect of global warming. It is also a promotion of environment protection,” Nida Organo, municipal agriculture officer, said on Friday

Come rainy season, she said, they will continue planting coffee trees in the communal forest of the municipality and open spaces of schools.

Residents are also urged to plant in their respective yards.

“Maganda din ito at umiinit na ang paligid, para makatulong tayo na lumamig ang kapaligiran (this is also good because the temperature is increasing so we could help make it cold again),” Organo said.

She also said that the flowers of coffee trees add to the aesthetics of a residential yard.

Organo noted that they have lots of coffee seedlings in their nursery, which can be used for tree planting.

“We have a coffee festival ordinance and one of the provisions is to improve the production so that we can meet the coffee beans demand in the market,” she said.

The ordinance was introduced to boost the coffee industry of La Trinidad where there are now at least 750 farmers in seven of the 16 villages of this capital town engaged in production.

At present, the municipality has at least 99,000 fruit-bearing coffee trees with farmers harvesting an average of half a kilogram per tree every harvest season.

“Our dream is to increase the productivity through research to be done in partnership with the Benguet State University,” she said. (PNA)