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Our coffee comes primarily
from the B'laan people around Mount Matutum, in the province of
South Cotabato, Mindanao Island, Philippines. They sell
their world class arabica coffee and civet
coffee at a fair traded price.
The B'laan farmers grow arabica coffee plants under the thick
forest of Mount Matutum. They also protect the wild civet
cats (Paradoxurus Philippinensis) roaming in their
forests.
It is from the Philippine civet cats that this tribe is making
most of their livelihood. Civet coffee is from wild
mountain cat droppings on the B'laan forest floors. These
nocturnal animal uses its nose to choose the ripest and sweetest
coffee cherries and relentlessly eats them during coffee season.
Gathered very early in the morning, usually before sunrise, the
forest dwellers climb the mountain and pick the civet droppings
on the forest floors. On a good day, a gatherer can
collect one kilo of civet droppings.
Coffee for Peace is also working with another ethnic
groups in Mindanao, the Bagobo people on Mount Apo and the
Talaandig people on Mount Kitanglad, to grow and sell coffee at
a fair traded price.
Most of the Indigenous Peoples in Mindanao, or the Lumad,
are struggling to preserve their respective cultures, protect
their ancestral lands, and to govern themselves in accordance
with their various traditions. The term they use to
describe their vision of the future is "the right to self
determination of the Indigenous Peoples."
Coffee for Peace is committed to support their journey
towards achieving the Lumad's right to self determination.
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