Nestlé Nespresso working to improve the lives of thousands of coffee farmers

Nestlé Nespresso has been making significant progress in its 2020 sustainability strategy, improving the lives of thousands of coffee farmers.

Over the past two years Nespresso has also been working to help re-build the coffee sector in South Sudan, resulting in the country’s first-ever coffee exports in 2013, and its first non-oil export to Europe. Nespresso aims to produce a new rare coffee from South Sudan, while providing alternative sources of sustainable income to local farmers.

Jean-Marc Duvoisin, CEO of Nestlé Nespresso SA, said, “Through our sustainability investments, the first steps have been taken to rebuild the coffee industry in South Sudan, and we are helping to initiate a better future for farmers in Colombia through a retirement savings plan. These are small steps given the scale of the challenges, but I am proud that we can do our part to help farmers, while securing the future supply of the highest quality coffees for our business and our Club Members.”

“I have seen that there is great change within the community. We want to produce the right quality. People now have hope. We will be able to pay school fees for children and in the end develop the country,” said Joseph Malish Thomas, South Sudanese farmer taking part in the Nespresso AAA Programme.

Nespresso aims to source 100% of its coffee from its AAA Sustainable Quality™ Programme by 2020. This depends heavily on the extension of the programme into Kenya and Ethiopia, to support a more skilled, self-sufficient and sustainable farming community. In the last 12 months Nespresso and TechnoServe, Nespresso’s partner, have provided training and technical assistance to over 10,000 farmers and will reach 50,000 farmers by 2020.

Nespresso has launched a retirement savings plan for coffee farmers in Colombia

In addition to the expansion of the AAA Programme in Africa, Nespresso has also made progress to implement innovative welfare solutions to ensure that coffee farming remains attractive to younger generations. Nespresso launched last year a pilot retirement savings plan, together with the Colombian Ministry of Labour, Fairtrade International, Expocafé and local coffee cooperatives, for farmers taking part in its AAA Sustainable Quality™ Programme in Caldas, Colombia. Already 850 AAA Fairtrade certified farmers entered the retirement savings plan. The first savings were transferred into farmers’ dedicated bank accounts in May 2015.

“Coffee farmers work very hard their whole lives, yet they don’t have the means to support themselves when they reach old age. That is why Nespresso and Fairtrade International are collaborating with the farmers in Colombia on an innovative retirement savings plan. Nespresso began sourcing Fairtrade certified coffee in 2014 from the Aguadas cooperative in Caldas, Colombia and so far over 800 farmers have decided to invest part of the Fairtrade Premium in actively planning for their retirement,” said Harriet Lamb, CEO of Fairtrade International. “Our hope is that this will also help the younger generation see coffee farming as a viable career, so preserving this essential part of the Colombian economy and heritage.”

Nespresso has been reintroducing trees in coffee producing regions to protect natural ecosystems

Nespresso has also progressed on its agroforestry plan. The reintroduction of trees in coffee producing regions helps protect natural ecosystems, thereby strengthening coffee farms’ resilience to climate change and ensuring sustainable coffee production for the future. Around 130,000 trees were planted in 2014 in Guatemala and Colombia as part of pilot programmes. In the first half of 2015, approximately 200,000 trees have been planted in Ethiopia and Guatemala, and another 300,000 will be planted by end 2015 in Mexico and Colombia.

“The Rainforest Alliance has been working with Nespresso and the AAA Programme since it was first created in 2003. Together we have seen great achievements that have delivered tangible improvement to lives of coffee farmers, families and communities, as well as environmental and biodiversity benefits,” said Tensie Whelan, President of the Rainforest Alliance. “The progress being delivered by Nespresso, the Rainforest Alliance and Pur Projet through the agroforestry plan is building on that success, helping farmers to improve their resilience to the real and present threat that is climate change. Working together we are showing that care for the environment and for coffee farmers is a fundamental part of supplying the highest quality coffee to Nespresso’s consumers around the world.”