Small coffee farmers realize higher yields, income – Nestlé

Nestlé Philippines reported that participating smallholder coffee farmers in its Nescafe Plan’s Project Coffee+ have increased average yields and incomes by around 64 percent and 45 percent, respectively, in 2021.

The Nescafé Plan in the country is a long-term program to increase the supply of Robusta coffee which lags considerably behind demand by helping farmers increase the productivity of coffee farming towards a better quality of life. Robusta accounts for 66 percent of local coffee production and is mostly grown in Mindanao.

Nestlé is the biggest buyer of Robusta green coffee beans in the Philippines. It increased its volume purchase of locally grown coffee by 41 percent in 2021 over 2020, sourced from participants in NESCAFÉ Plan projects as well as consolidators, small holder farmers and farmer cooperatives across Mindanao.

Project Coffee+, in cooperation with the German development agency Ge sell sc haft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), has provided 1,500 participating farmers in Sultan Kudarat and Bukidnon with intensive training since 2019 to develop their agri preneurial mindset.

The significant increases in their yields and incomes are attributed to their adoption of an agri-enterprise approach to farm operations, which includes applying learned skills in better farm planning and budgeting, seeking financial services, money management, farm diversification through inter cropping or multi-crop ping, and raising livestock. Other factors driving their progress are improvements in coffee tree maintenance, entrepreneurial farm management techniques and regenerative agriculture practices.

These findings were reported by the Rainforest Alliance - an international NGO addressing deforestation, climate change, systemic poverty, and social inequity – that performed field-based monitoring and evaluation to help assess the sustainability performance of the NESCAFÉ Plan and measure results against targets.

The Rainforest Alliance report shows that the Project Coffee+ farmers’ adoption of regenerative farming practices such as agroforestry, or the use of crop cover and other vegetation, the application of organic matter and rejuvenation of coffee trees have made a positive impact on total harvest.