The multinational detailed its vision through the first progress report on its Nescafé 2030 Plan.
This was first launched in 2018 with a focus on key coffee production markets, many of which are in Asia, including Indonesia, Vietnam, China, Thailand and the Philippines.
Among these, the markets of Southeast Asia, Indonesia and Vietnam have been recognized as one of the top seven markets from which Nescafé sources 90% of its coffee, furthering the company’s quest to ensure sustainable coffee production. .
“The Nescafé 2030 Plan Progress Report shows the potential of regenerative agriculture to help make coffee farming more sustainable in the long term (and we want to) support coffee farmers to make this transition, including by providing them with the knowledge and skills tools they need to increase yields and income while helping to reduce carbon emissions at the same time.”The Head of Nestlé’s Strategic Coffee Business Unit, Philipp Navratil, said at a press event focused on the report.
“Each location experiences different challenges and conditions, and we set up different custom programs for each one (in Indonesia for example), the rainfall patterns here are very vulnerable to the effects of climate change.
“(This forced us to support) farmer resilience through various practices, including rejuvenating coffee plants, improving soil fertility, promoting compost fertilizer, and diversifying income with goats and intercrops.
“We are also testing a weather insurance scheme to mitigate the revenue impact of erratic rainfall patterns.”
Much emphasis was placed on the importance of different diversified strategies that can be employed both for each market and within each market, an approach that was wholeheartedly supported by the Rainforest Alliance, the company’s partner in this initiative which also conducted its own sustainability. focused analysis and released its own separate report at the same time.
“We’ve seen some encouraging trends in some countries, such as higher revenues, increased adoption of regenerative practices, integrated approaches, and more.”Raiforest Alliance Monitoring and Evaluation Manager Yustika Muharastri said.
“(In the ASEAN region), our analysis shows that for Vietnam in particular, an important feature that has benefited local coffee farmers has been income diversification to improve their economic resilience, (so) despite the costs With slightly higher production rates and a smaller decline in per hectare yields, strategies like intercropping mean their net income increased.
“In Indonesia, we saw that in 2021 higher prices were not enough to cover increased local input and labor costs and the impact on yields from heavy rain and wind during the flowering season, but in In 2022, the data suggests that yields returned to better levels, which, combined with improved prices, generated positive revenue developments.
“Taken together, the data shows that addressing a single factor, such as agricultural practices or prices, will often not be enough (and) an integrated approach is necessary that combines strategies to improve yields, optimize production costs and encourage regenerative agriculture practices. ”
regeneration requirement
Much of the Nescafé 2030 Plan strategy revolves around regenerative farming practices, including not only intercropping and the aforementioned integrated approaches, but also reduced chemical soil contamination, which has been cited as another major achievement.
“Another positive development for regenerative agriculture is the decrease in the use of agrochemicals (herbicides and pesticides) in various countries such as China, India, Indonesia, Vietnam, etc., from 2018 to 2022.”the report said.
“While this is partly due to the increased cost of these inputs, we can also partly attribute it to the distribution of rust-resistant leaves. varieties of coffee seedlings, as well as agricultural training in safer weed and pest management techniques.
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