NESCAFÉ Plan in Vietnam marks 10 years of sustainable coffee production

Todd Yates, technical director of Nestlé Vietnam made the opening remarks

On the occasion of International Coffee Day on October 1, Nestlé Vietnam has shared about its 10-year journey of developing sustainable coffee. Over the past 25 years of operating in Vietnam, Nestlé Vietnam has joint hands with stakeholders to implement various Creating Shared Value initiatives, with NESCAFÉ Plan being one of the flagship programmes.

Todd Yates, technical director of Nestlé Vietnam said that NESCAFÉ Plan has made significant contributions to the coffee industry and to the overall socioeconomic development of the country in the last 10 years. Specifically, the programme has improved the income and living standards of Vietnamese farmers by helping them increase coffee yields and making them into “agripreneurs” through interventions such as the distribution of high-yield seedlings to rejuvenate aging coffee areas, training, technology transfer, and assistance in achieving international certifications for sustainable coffee, among others.

In addition, NESCAFÉ Plan also supports local communities by injecting around $600 million per year to the rural economy through coffee purchases. Meanwhile, it strengthens sustainability practices in local coffee production by introducing sustainable coffee cultivation and practices to farmers that help reduce both water consumption and reliance on chemical fertilisers and pesticides. Last but not least, the programme also harnesses the power of technology through an advanced software called “FARMS” to assist NESCAFÉ Plan participants.

"Through NESCAFÉ Plan, we have also helped strengthen the reputation of Vietnam as a source of high-quality coffee. Nestlé uses coffee beans produced by farmers under the NESCAFÉ Plan in many of our products which are, in turn, distributed to more than 25 countries across Asia, Europe, the Americas, and Oceania. This includes markets with very high standards for quality and compliance such as Japan, Korea, the United States, and several countries in the European Union," he added.

These successes are not Nestlé’s alone. Instead, it is the result of the company's on-going collaboration with Vietnamese stakeholders who share Nestlé’s values and goal of further developing the country’s coffee industry. Among Nestlé’s collaborators are the Department of Crop Production from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, its co-chair in public-private partnership (PPP) Coffee Task Force; the Western Highlands Agriculture and Forestry Science Institute (WASI); and Provincial Agricultural Extension Centers (PAECs) in the Central Highlands.

Binu Jacob, managing director of Nestlé Vietnam, gave a briefing on the NESCAFÉ Plan

According to Binu Jacob, CEOof Nestlé Vietnam, "We, at Nestlé, remain deeply – if not even more – committed to the NESCAFÉ Plan. We are fully aware that we have an important role to play in supporting the sustainable development of Vietnam’s coffee industry. For the next decade, we have set our sights on not only continuing our work but bringing it to the next level."

Specifically, Nestlé will add more value to Vietnamese coffee by continuously increasing the volume of processed coffee for both the domestic and export markets. The company continues to work with farmers and other coffee stakeholders to improve and monitor agricultural practices and to increase the adoption of sustainable coffee farming methods. Meanwhile, the company is committed to driving the circular economy by strengthening ustainability across our coffee value chain – from farming to production – and bringing new product choices to young and demanding local consumers.

"Together with the rest of the Vietnamese coffee community, we plan to do our part in helping Vietnam maintain its status as the second-largest coffee exporter in the world and become the global benchmark for Robusta coffee bean production," he stated. "More importantly, we aim for the NESCAFÉ Plan to help deliver one of Nestlé’s overall goals which is to 'Unlock the power of food to enhance quality of life for everyone today and generations to come'."

In the past 10 years, NESCAFÉ Plan distributed 46 million high-yield coffee plantlets to farmers, significantly improving in yields as the plants mature

246,00 training sessions were given to farmers in the key provinces of Lam Dong, Dak Lak, Dak Nong, and Gia Lai, enabling them to increase their skills in coffee farming

More than 30 per cent increase in farmer income as well as improved resiliency through better farming practices during the 10-year journey of NESCAFÉ Plan