Coffee Gets Its Kick Back
To address farmers’ agricultural problems and the country’s dwindling domestic production of coffee as well as its growing demand, Nestle Philippines developed a coffee-based sustainable farming system focused on bringing back the vibrancy of the coffee sector.
Nestle Philippines Agricultural Services Department Head Glicerio Joel Lumagbas said, “It was 2003 when we started developing this farming system. We brought Switzerland-based Sustainable Agriculture Initiatives (SAI) chamber Mr. Patrick Leheup in the country to spearhead its first convention. The response was successful, with 15 major food companies present that day, all of which were keen and open to develop the agricultural activities in the country.”
SAI was originally founded by Nestle S.A., the mother company of leading coffee brand Nescafe, along with other renowned agribusiness companies to promote the improvement of farmers’ productivity through livelihood programs and conservation of land, soil and water.
Nestle Philippines officially kicked off its sustainable agriculture program in 2004, focusing primarily on the coffee sector. Presently, they have lo demo farms set up across the country-six in Mindanao, two in Visayas and two in Luzon. These farms house farmers and experts that give lectures and demonstrations of the best practices of sustainable coffee farming.
Lumagbas added, “Modern farming practices and first-hand information become easier and more reliable for coffee farmers when they hear it directly from other farmers who have been successful in the industry. This is why we made it a point that the farm owners themselves give the demos and lectures. Additionally, we make the farmers realize that coffee’s existing market continually grows each year.”
This, he said, promotes not only camaraderie among the farmers, but it also encourages the practice of sustainable coffee farming to persuade them to plant what they call `companion crops’. These companion crops include peanuts, mungbeans, corn, silage and other root crops that farmers believe have a ready market.
The feedback so far has been enthusiastic. More and more farmers realize the benefits of the SA1 activities and are eager to adapt them. These benefits include getting bigger income within the first year, as opposed to the normal scheme of waiting two or three years before getting profits.
Their other success stories include the Tara Woods Coffee Farm in Tanauan, Batangas and the Talon Family Farm School in Tuy, Batangas. Lumagbas also cited a farmer in Sultan Kudarat in Mindanao who was able to earn P80,000 for his first year of farming two kinds of peanuts, who then advanced to other high-value crops afterward.
These model farms serve as satellite training centers for farmers in Luzon so that they won’t have to go to Mindanao to undergo extensive coffee technological trainings.
Nestle Philippines, which has been helping the coffee farmers for more than 30 years now, is -offering the SAI platform to interested farmers for free. Lumagbas continued, “We encourage them to join the three-day technological seminar at the Nestle Experimental Demonstration Farm, a free training that includes boarding and lodging costs. All the participants need to spend on are their transportation fees and their allowance.”
Nestle’s technical assistance program and direct procurement systems will give farmers access to the market and different buying stations, whereas before, farmers have to directly sell their crops to traders. Now, Nestle even accepts a minimum of half-a-sack deliveries for the first deliveries.
At present, Nestle Philippines’s SAI platform is supported by 20 companies from different industries, divided into five working groups that focus on production of cereals, coffee, dairy, fruits and potatoes. These are comprised of Groupe Danone, McDonald’s, Ecom, Efico, Kraft, Neuman Kaffee Group, Sara Lee, Tchibo, Volcafe, Friesland Cobeco, Campira, Fontera, IDF, Unilever, McCain, Findus and Dole.
All these companies are determined to create and sustain a productive, competitive and efficient way of producing agricultural products, while protecting and improving the environment and the socio-economic conditions of local communities.
But even before the SAI platform was established, Nescafe was already spearheading campaigns towards improved coffee farming practices and the betterment of the coffee farmer’s lives in general. The company built coffee buying stations across the country, including Davao, Iloilo, Isabela, Zamboanga, Agusan del Stir, Cotabato, Palawan, Tuguegarao, Solano, Bohol, Calamba, Bacolod, Alabang and Cavite, wherein farmers can sell their crops at guaranteed actual market prices.
Nestle has also initiated the Coffee Based Sustainable Farming System (CBSFS) which encourages farmers to plant other crops alongside coffee. They have headed seminars and trainings of coffee suppliers for eventual certification as Common Code for the Coffee Community (4C) coffee suppliers. 4C is a global association that aims for the realization of the economic, environmental and social sustainability in the mainstream coffee sector.
Farmers from other tropical countries are also gaining from the SAI practices. In Guatemala, where green coffee production is abundant, Volcafe and Nestle instigated a program that helped improve both the social and environmental sustainability of the country.
This began in March 2004, starting in the village of Ojercaibal, where they focused on the construction of two classrooms, implementation of highly efficient stoves to reduce the consumption of firewood and prevent health hazards, installation of sufficient drinking water systems, introduction of basic medicines for the local health clinic and the planting of avocado trees for each family to further promote the country’s reforestation.
Meanwhile, in El Salvador, NKG and Deutsche Gesellschaft (GTZ) initiated a sustainable production and processing program of Arabica green coffee. This sought to promote the farming of the crop, reinforce existing farming organizations and educate the farmers on the best production methods and develop a practical system that will further sustain the eventual commercialization of its coffee sector.
And now, Filipino farmers, like the rest of the world, will get more than just a whiff of this development. Nestle Philippines aims to position the foundations of a long-term business and identify the industry’s opportunities to generate income for our local farmers and their families.
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