Production characteristics, marketing channels, and stakeholder-perceived constraints in Lipa City's Kapeng Barako sector: a mixed-method descriptive study
- 1atangas State University, The National Engineering University Lipa Campus, Lipa City, Batangas, Philippines
Abstract
This study describes production characteristics, marketing channels, and stakeholder-perceived constraints in Lipa City, Philippines, a traditional production area for Liberica coffee (Kapeng Barako). A mixed-method descriptive design combined questionnaires administered to 100 purposively selected coffee farmers and two local coffee-industry owners with supplementary interviews and focus-group discussions. Among farmers, 48% operated 1–5 ha, 41% operated 0.5 ha or less, and 11% operated more than 5 ha. Traditional/natural farming (91%), dry processing (95%), and direct sales to local markets (80%) predominated. Plantation shrinkage was the strongest production concern (weighted mean [WM] = 3.74), while instability of market prices and coffee-cherry trading was the highest-rated market/profitability concern (WM = 3.14). Youth non-participation (WM = 3.71), long time to harvest (WM = 3.48), and delayed returns (WM = 3.36) were also salient. Qualitative findings identified four themes: shrinking farm area and continuity, cash-flow-driven selling, processing and quality upgrading, and stronger market coordination. A joint display indicated substantial convergence between survey and qualitative findings, with qualitative accounts providing participant-reported explanations but diverging from survey findings on processing quality. Purposive sampling and perception-based measures limit generalizability. Without transaction-level prices, costs, or margins, or inferential or econometric analysis, the findings describe participating stakeholders' perceived constraints and do not establish effects of price instability or trading conditions on farmer income.
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BibTeX
@article{extra2026production,
title = {{Production characteristics, marketing channels, and stakeholder-perceived constraints in Lipa City's Kapeng Barako sector: a mixed-method descriptive study}},
author = {Shelyn S. Extra and Nerrie E. Malaluan and Leoven A. Austria and Madel L. Lumbera},
journal = {Frontiers in Environmental Economics},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.3389/frevc.2026.1957600},
url = {https://doi.org/10.3389/frevc.2026.1957600},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Production characteristics, marketing channels, and stakeholder-perceived constraints in Lipa City's Kapeng Barako sector: a mixed-method descriptive study
AU - Shelyn S. Extra
AU - Nerrie E. Malaluan
AU - Leoven A. Austria
AU - Madel L. Lumbera
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/23
JO - Frontiers in Environmental Economics
DO - 10.3389/frevc.2026.1957600
UR - https://doi.org/10.3389/frevc.2026.1957600
AB - This study describes production characteristics, marketing channels, and stakeholder-perceived constraints in Lipa City, Philippines, a traditional production area for Liberica coffee (Kapeng Barako). A mixed-method descriptive design combined questionnaires administered to 100 purposively selected coffee farmers and two local coffee-industry owners with supplementary interviews and focus-group discussions. Among farmers, 48% operated 1–5 ha, 41% operated 0.5 ha or less, and 11% operated more than 5 ha. Traditional/natural farming (91%), dry processing (95%), and direct sales to local markets (80%) predominated. Plantation shrinkage was the strongest production concern (weighted mean [WM] = 3.74), while instability of market prices and coffee-cherry trading was the highest-rated market/profitability concern (WM = 3.14). Youth non-participation (WM = 3.71), long time to harvest (WM = 3.48), and delayed returns (WM = 3.36) were also salient. Qualitative findings identified four themes: shrinking farm area and continuity, cash-flow-driven selling, processing and quality upgrading, and stronger market coordination. A joint display indicated substantial convergence between survey and qualitative findings, with qualitative accounts providing participant-reported explanations but diverging from survey findings on processing quality. Purposive sampling and perception-based measures limit generalizability. Without transaction-level prices, costs, or margins, or inferential or econometric analysis, the findings describe participating stakeholders' perceived constraints and do not establish effects of price instability or trading conditions on farmer income.
SN - 2813-2823
ER -