We can thank our lucky stars for the country’s good showing in 2012. But 2013 is another story. My boss when I was still with broadcast media used to tell me, you’re only as good as your last newscast. And this was to keep my feet on the ground after I won a Star Awards for Best Female Newscaster lest it goes to my head.

The same may be said of the economy’s more-than-what-was expected performance last year. While it pleasantly surprised all of us, we must keep in mind that there is much work to be done. In fact, it behooves everyone in government to work harder and make that much ballyhooed growth felt by all, especially the masses. Unemployment rate has gone down to 6.8 percent in October last year according to DOLE. I would be very interested to see how that was computed because the hunger rate has gone up. It does not jive.

DTI Secretary Gregory Domingo in a radio interview gave his fearless forecast for 2013: a high of 6 percent. Quite conservative, one might say, considering that it’s an election year so definitely, there will be more spending and more money going around. Inflation rate is at manageable levels and I am sure the BSP will do everything it can to keep it that way. There is a real estate boom. Interest rates are at historic lows at 6 percent. Sadly, nobody is borrowing. You have an empowerment budget which gave a considerable chunk to education, infrastructure and social welfare development.

But one thing he’s sure of is investors will continue to come in because the environment the Aquino Administration has created is conducive to business. And wasn’t this one of the campaign promises? To level the playing field for business to come in which was achieved by implementing a good governance program.

2012 was a record year for BOI as it received the biggest number of investment missions from all over. We hope to see the fruits of these missions in the months to come. Meantime, while we wait, DTI rolls out the first of its NEDAC-funded Shared Service Facilities (SSF) for the Coffee Cluster in Tabuk, Kalinga. The SSF is a DTI flagship project in collaboration with NGOs, foundations, LGUs or universities. The challenge is to be able to put up 1,000 targeted SSFs from the P 770 million pesos funding it received from Congress. This is considered a milestone in the development of one of the 35 priority industry clusters.

CAR is actually not a major producer of robusta or Arabica coffee beans. Other regions such as regions 4-a, 11 and 12 are the frontrunners in this industry. So why coffee for CAR? Primarily, it is the high elevation of the area that makes CAR conducive to the production of high-valued Arabica coffee. It is said that the higher the elevation, the better yielding and more aromatic is the Arabica coffee. Local consumption is also quite high because it is a traditional drink or beverage for all occasions. Coffee trees can be a very good forest cover especially in forest reservations and watershed areas. The terrain and sustained soil fertility also contribute to these comparative advantages. The industry is also fast gaining considerable support such as from the CAR Regional Development Council which adopted coffee as their banner project.

There are a number of programs and projects geared towards the development of this industry. You have the Rural Micro Enterprise Development Programme (RuMEPP) and CARP assisted coffee processors, the JICA funded NICCEP program where CAR’s coffee cluster is one of the enrolled industries. Hopefully, together with the Shared Service Facilities (SSF) program, the problem of low productivity in the region particularly in the production of green beans will be addressed. Just to compare, productivity level per hectare of Cavite is at one MT per hectare while Vietnam produces 2.0 – 4.0 MT per hectare. CAR only produces 0.25 MT per ha.

With the SSF, five co-operators composed of 2,417 growers/processors from the provinces of Apayao, Benguet, Ifugao, Kalinga and Mt. Province will be benefited. Targeted increase in production is by 40 percent from a production volume of 4,571 MT in 2012 to 6,011 MT by 2015.

Now, we shall see if we can finally translate the meaning of inclusive growth.

God is Great!

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