Coffee farmers

Most coffee farmers are smallholders living in developing countries. Growing coffee requires skill, determination and lots of hard work.

It also takes careful planning, because the challenge begins with the coffee plant. It needs about four years to produce its first crop and it’s very sensitive to weather variations.

For best results, harvesting is done by hand. This way, only the ripe coffee berries are picked and the unripe berries are left for later. This is time consuming, but a better quality crop can command a better price.

Demand for coffee is growing around the world and there are many opportunities for improving conditions for coffee farmers, including fair trade certification schemes.

What can NESCAFÉ do for the farmer? NESCAFÉ shares the interest of the farmer in long-term stability. After all, security for the farmer is the basis for product quality.

The NESCAFÉ Plan unveiled in 2010, is supporting farmers in a lot of different ways. Working with the Rainforest Alliance, the Sustainable Agriculture Network (SAN) and the Common Code for the Coffee Community (4C), NESCAFÉ is helping transform coffee-farm management.

NESCAFÉ is expanding its technical assistance programs for farmers, providing advice to over ten thousand coffee farmers per year.

New microfinance schemes for coffee farmers are being set up. The number of community projects focused on education, public health and water supply are increasing.

Over the next five years (2011-15), NESCAFÉ will double the amount of coffee bought directly from farmers and their associations, purchasing 180,000 tonnes of coffee from around 170,000 farmers.

NESCAFÉ will distribute 220 million high-yielding, disease-resistant coffee plantlets to farmers by 2020, which will allow farmers to rejuvenate their crops, multiply yield and increase their income.