The report will offer an overview of the Philippine coffee industry, a case study of an MSME in the Philippine coffee farming and exporting industry, and an emerging technology company attempting to bring trade transparency and efficiency to the coffee industry.
Blockchain technology can create a digital record of the origin of a coffee crop and follow that batch through processing, export and roasting. The system is resistant to tampering and is visible to everyone in the chain. The niche market for high-grade, specialty coffee is lucrative and relies on buyers knowing exactly where the coffee is grown. Entering the specialty market can boost incomes of small-scale farmers who have not experienced the benefits of a spike in the global retail price of coffee in the past decade. Accurate information is an untapped driver of value for these farmers. Blockchain technology could help address three problems in the sector:
Conducted by Kai Chang and Scott Tupper of Yave.io and Carmel Laurino and Lacy Audry of Kalsada Coffee, this research report is one of three published for the APEC-Canada Growing Business Partnership around the theme of market access, with a focus on the Philippines and other APEC economies.
“The breakthrough of MSMEs into the global marketplace is a challenge no single technology can resolve. It requires widespread adoption, harmonization, and infrastructure buildout to the benefit of all stakeholders in the value chain. It requires bypassing service providers in the chain who don’t add value. Getting rid of these intermediaries can be driven by vertical integration, education, and technology.”