USA – Nespresso has committed to support coffee farmers in in the municipality of El Rosario, in the Nariño Department of Colombia through a program that seeks to revitalize coffee production in the region impacted by illicit drug production.
Through a collaboration with the Colombian Coffee Growers Federation (FNC) and the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, Nespresso has said it will help bring the region under coffee production while improving farmers’ livelihoods.
The partnership was announced on May 28, following a meeting between Colombian President Iván Duque, Howard Buffett; Jean-Marc Duvoisin, CEO of Nespresso, and the FNC CEO, Roberto Vélez, at Casa de Nariño in Bogotá, Colombia.
The Howard G. Buffett Foundation has committed nearly US$2 million to improve coffee farms and community infrastructure in the region.
Nespresso on the other hand, will purchase the coffee beans that these farmers will harvest.
The pilot program will work with 100 farmers to implement sustainable farming practices that facilitate the growth of high-quality coffee.
“Nariño has a long connection with nurturing and cultivating an exceptional coffee crop, and generations of farmers have crafted some of the rarest and highest-quality Colombian coffee,” said Jean-Marc Duvoisin, CEO of Nespresso.
“However, coffee production has been in decline in El Rosario, so this is an exciting program for us to support as it builds on our work with farmers in Colombia and other countries to revive coffees from origins, which are under threat.
“Through agronomy support and the premiums farmers earn by selling highest quality coffee, we help to provide long-term sustainability and resilience to coffee farming communities.
“We are committed to helping El Rosario reinvigorate their coffee production and, with it, the community’s pride.”
Nespresso expects to extend the program to other regions with the potential to work with an additional 450 farmers.
This builds on Nespresso’s sustainable coffee-sourcing efforts by working with Colombia’s farmers over the past 25 years, and its long-standing partnership with FNC.
In 2017, in partnership with FNC, Nespresso expanded its AAA Sustainable Quality coffee-sourcing program to several former conflict zones in the country.
The company in partnership with Blue Marble Microinsurance launched a weather index insurance program to provide nearly 2,000 smallholder coffee farmers in the country with a critical safety net in the face of adverse weather conditions.
Last month, the company said it is investing US$9.8 million (CHF 10 million) in a new strategy to revive the coffee industries in selected countries including Zimbabwe, Colombia, Puerto Rico.
