Nestlé, GIZ project seeks PH coffee yield to be at par with Vietnam's product

Nestlé Philippines and Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) aim to further raise the yield per hectare of small-scale coffee farmers in the country to be at par with Vietnam’s production.

Nestlé and GIZ have implemented Project Coffee+, launched in 2018, aimed at addressing yield challenges among small-scale coffee farmers through educating farmers on new techniques such as regenerative agriculture.

The project was expanded, now called Project Coffee ++, further in 2021 to 2025.

At a press briefing in Makati City on Friday, Nestlé Philippines head of corporate affairs Joey Uy said the “ultimate goal” of Project Coffee ++ is to eventually raise the yield of coffee farmers to 2 metric tons per hectare, “at par with Vietnam” by the end of the project in 2025.

However, Uy said the goal would be a moving target as he clarified that “we have yet to get there.”

Under the previous Project Coffee +, the Nestlé Philippines executive reported that the initiative has raised the yield of about 3,000 small-scale coffee farmers in Bukidnon to 900 kilograms per hectare as of 2022 from the baseline of 235 kilograms per hectare in 2018, a 283% increase since the project was launched.

Nonetheless, Uy said so far farmers under the project are already seeing yields of 1 metric ton per hectare.

“Let's work first one step at a time and then we'll see how we progress,” he said.

Under Project Coffee++, which would run until December 2025, Nestlé is also partnering with the Agricultural Training Institute —the training arm of the Department of Agriculture — to introduce an online certificate course and a crop calendar focused on regenerative agriculture.

The online course, which would target about 1,500 more small-scale coffee farmers with one to two hectares of farm in Bukidnon and Sultan Kudarat, would offer comprehensive educational resources for coffee farmers and other stakeholders.

The crop calendar, meanwhile, would serve as a record-keeping tool to monitor disbursements and income. — BAP, GMA Integrated News