Mount Matutum’s hidden wealth

Coffee cannot be sans water and coffee is to conserve water.

To a coffee-drinking journalist, that may just put in simpler terms a complex goal to save biodiversity and wildlife at the slopes of Mt. Matutum by dwellers along a mountain top community in Kinilis, Polomolok town, South Cotabato.

Yet, there is more to than just conservation in that community perched some 1,200 meters above sea level, where the wind is cold and humid amid a noontime sky.

The cone-shaped Mt. Matutum that majestically straddles a huge part of South Cotabato and portions of General Santos City and the provinces of Sarangani and Davao del Sur, is said to have grown from a previous period of volcanic activity.

The 2,300-meter high volcano forms the headwater for several rivers and streams, including the Klinan, Silway and Buayan rivers that empty into Sarangani Bay.

About a couple of years back, Mt. Matutum’s forest reserve was pegged at 14,000 hectares, with about ten percent considered as still primary forest.

Kaingin, a form of slash and burn farming, and illegal logging have destroyed vast tracts of timberland, made worst by drought-induced forest fires in recent years.

That would not be the situation now, Fred Fredeluces, a coffee trader who is treated by locals as “family”, said. They are working on a holistic approach to address the problem on environment at the same time give livelihood to the locals.

Mt. Matutum, which name in Blaan means “burnt out,” is host to diverse plant and animal species including the Philippine Eagle.

Estimates by experts placed the count at over a hundred plant species and about 60 animal species in the area, including the civet (Paradoxorus philippinensis), which is considered a precious creature to the community, for the value added process it does to coffee.

For that, conservation efforts involving the locals is easier as they themselves find means to regreen the mountain with coffee that now grow in abundance under forest canopy.

Fredeluces said the locals themselves have formed a group that helps protect the forest and its wildlife, going after poachers that usually wander in the vast timberland of Matutum.

The coffee helps sustain the civet, which in turn helps sustain a major livelihood of local residents – selling civet coffee beans, known to be among the world’s most expensive brew. A cup sells at P700 in top Philippine hotels.

Civet population has remarkably “rose to more than 30,000 and perhaps even more from about 12,000 three years ago,” remarked Maluig Buan, a village leader.

The nocturnal civet, or balos in Blaan, roam the Matutum forest in the dark foraging for ripe coffee berries. As it feasts on coffee berries, the civet instinctively discards the rind and swallow the coffee berry along with its bean.

Just before sunrise, Blaan farmers take over the forest, searching the ground under coffee trees for telltale signs like discarded coffee rinds that lead them to the precious civet droppings.

Fredeluces explained that the process the coffee beans undergoes in the cat’s abdominal tracts gives a cleansing effect and may have decaffeinated the ingested coffee beans.

Buan, who is 76 years old, claimed the civet coffee “has aphrodisiac qualities” giving him strength and stamina as he brags that he has two wives, a couple of dozen kids and about a hundred grandchildren.

“Balos coffee strengthens the knees and muscles,” quipped a smiling Buan.

Buan’s nephew, on the other hand, gives credit to civet coffee for the high-paying livelihood they get, which allows them to send their kids to school and build better homes.

Fredeluces points to the community along the slopes, saying a unique indicator on the improvement in the lives of local residents is the reflection from the roof of houses.

“They used to have nipa shingles, now they have G.I. sheets for roofing,” he said.

A Blaan farmer in Kinilis makes P800 for a kilo of civet coffee which could even be a thousand depending on the quality of the beans.

During peak season a farmer can sell an average of one kilo daily, Buan said.

The elder Buan said he foresees that his grandchildren’s children will nurture and sustain the practice of protecting and preserving the civet and its sanctuary.

Fredeluces noted that at times it pays for people to really understand their relationship with nature for them to take necessary conservation efforts.

The coffee trader would at times bring local and foreign guests to the highland community to experience nature and get a sip of civet coffee without worrying for the price.

Water for your coffee?

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