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| Nestle continues to support our local coffee farmers by buying 39% more robusta coffee beans in 2020. |
When
you start your mornings drinking coffee that is locally manufactured with beans
grown in the country, you are directly contributing to the livelihood of the
hardworking Magkakapeng Pillipino.
As the country’s only large coffee manufacturer and the
leading buyer of domestically grown Robusta beans, Nestlé Philippines is deeply
committed to help grow the local coffee industry through the NESCAFÉ Plan, a
long-term program that seeks to boost the supply of local Robusta coffee while
helping farmers increase their yields and incomes from coffee farming, in the
process uplifting their quality of life. The company's strategy is to favor and push for the local sourcing of
raw and packaging materials in its manufacturing.
Significant increase in local coffee buying
Today, Nestlé Philippines announced that in crop year
2020-2021, its local coffee buying had increased by 39 percent, following an
increase of 27 percent in 2019-2020. These increases are attributed to higher
yields because of intensified classroom and hands-on training for Robusta
coffee farmers, and greater availability of credit for farming, aspects of
coffee production in which the NESCAFÉ Plan is actively involved. Nestlé
Philippines aims to continue increasing direct buying from individual farmers
and farmer groups as a component of the NESCAFÉ Plan.
At present, coffee consumption in the country totals
approximately 100,000 metric tons while local production stands at only about a
fourth of demand. While the Philippines is an ideal country in which to grow
coffee, production has decreased by 3.5 percent with consumption increasing by
8.8 percent annually in recent years.
According to the Philippine Coffee Industry Roadmap 2017-2022,
the continuous drop in production has been caused by various factors such as an
increasing number of coffee growers shifting to other crops, old age of trees
with limited or no rejuvenation, poor farm practices and limited knowledge on
appropriate coffee technology among farmers, aging farmers, limited access to
certified planting materials, and limited access to credit. Still another
factor is climate change with its adverse effects on agriculture.
Due to the gap between supply and
demand, local manufacturers are forced to import raw coffee from Vietnam and Indonesia,
which the country can very well produce for itself. The shortage in
supply represents ready-made opportunities for local coffee growers.
Notwithstanding the complex
challenges, with the right policies and technologies, with sufficient investments
and support from both the government and the private sector, and with adequate
economic benefits and incentives for land owners and farmers as well as
producers, the local coffee sector can achieve self-sufficiency in the future.
“Given our involvement in coffee manufacturing in the
country, we have a major responsibility to take a key role towards building a
progressive coffee industry. This involves growing enough so that there will be
no need to import coffee, and includes helping farmers become agripreneurs,
observing equitable labor practices on the farms, and respecting the
environment. That is why we are deeply committed to the continuing
implementation of our NESCAFÉ Plan as a vehicle for driving coffee
sustainability,” said Nestlé Philippines Chairman and CEO Kais
Marzouki.
A banner component
of the NESCAFÉ Plan called Project Coffee+ in collaboration with GIZ, the
German development cooperation agency, has been
training 1,500 farmers in Sultan Kudarat and Bukidnon intensively over the past
three years to approach small-scale coffee farming as a business. The
initiative is on track in doubling the participants' average yields per
hectare.
Upskilling
coffee farmers with TESDA
Recently, Nestlé
Philippines signed an agreement with the Technical Education and Skills
Development Authority (TESDA) to provide scholarships for farmers, particularly
smallholders, youth, women, and Indigenous Peoples in Mindanao, where 80
percent of the country’s coffee is grown. The partnership aims to strengthen
and empower farmers by providing them proper training in coffee production, based mainly on the Farmer Business
School for Coffee training materials developed by Project Coffee+.
Last June and July, the first three batches – each
composed of 25 farmer scholars, began training in Coffee Production Level II at
the Northern Mindanao Agricultural Crops and Livestock Research Complex in
Malaybalay City, Bukidnon. The 25-day training module teaches and trains
participants the fundamentals of modern coffee growing and entrepreneurship.
This year, there are 450 initial scholarship slots
allotted for Bukidnon and Sultan Kudarat. Nestlé and TESDA intend to expand the
project to other locations.
