Nescafe launches P10 million fund for education assistance

MANILA, Philippines — Coffee brand Nescafe aims to assist coffee farmers in achieving their goals of providing higher education for their children through a P10-million educational assistance fund.

The initiative is under Nescafe’s recently launched Kape’t Bisig sa Pagbangon program, which aims to foster enthusiasm for agriculture among the youth.

In a statement, Nescafe  said it has partnered with three universities in Mindanao, Sultan Kudarat State University, Central Mindanao University, and University of Southern Mindanao to identify beneficiary students, prioritizing children of farmers in agriculture-related courses.

It said the program would grant 400 students with P25,000 each to fund their academic requirements.

“Education is a cornerstone in securing the future of farmers’ children; and having educated youth in agriculture is essential to ensure the attainment of a food-secure and resilient future,” Nestlé Philippines head of corporate affairs Jose Uy III said.

“Kape’t Bisig aims to help build a new generation of farmers, agriculturists and rural development champions, while continuing in its commitment to transform farmers into agripreneurs through the Nescafe’ plan initiatives,” he said.

The company said the plan has succeeded in demonstrating the profitability of coffee farming based on the results of the three-year pilot of Project Coffee+, its capacity-building program with GIZ that aims to transform smallholder farmers in Mindanao into agripreneurs.

Under Project Coffee+, an average increase of 300 percent in yield and profit was achieved among the first set of 1,500 farmers who were trained on entrepreneurship and regenerative agriculture.

According to Nescafe, 86 percent of beneficiary farmers have crossed the poverty threshold since joining Project Coffee+ in 2018.

“The Nescafe Plan has been future-proofing the soil by upskilling farmers on regenerative agriculture. Today, Kape’t Bisig is future-proofing the coffee farming sector by cultivating the mindset of the youth towards a more favorable perception of farming,” Uy said.

“Through the Nescafe Plan’s ongoing initiatives, coffee farming is being established as an economically viable profession, one that can be more attractive to youth given its significant earning potential,” he added.

Apart from the educational assistance fund, the Kape’t Bisig program also featured the Kape’t Bisig Music Challenge, a social media campaign that calls on a public outpouring of support for Filipino coffee farmers and spur interest in agriculture among young Filipinos.

“Today’s youth are social media natives so this social media campaign has been an essential part of the project,” Nescafé Classic assistant brand manager Igi Natanauan said.