Looking for the best coffee variety for Filipino farmers

As the leading coffee maker in the Philippines, Nescafé takes pains in ensuring that it supplies only the best raw materials to Filipino farmers. What they plant and reap, after all, is what the company eventually uses in the manufacture of its best-selling coffees.

Nescafé does this by investing hugely on coffee research and development, which are being conducted in its Nestle Experimental and Demonstration Farm (NEDF) in Tagum, Davao.

Here, varieties from both local and international coffee-producing areas are studied and evaluated and likewise improved and developed to come up with raw materials that, coupled with the farmers’ care, eventually produce the best coffee beans.

These raw materials (e.g., seeds, rooted cuttings, and seedlings) are made available to farmers at cost. To date, the NEDF provides 80 percent of all Robusta cuttings in the Philippines.

Farmers, meanwhile, can sell their coffee harvest at numerous Coffee Buying Stations across the country. Here, farmers can sell their green coffee beans at current world market prices and get paid within eight hours of delivery.

Nescafé currently buys Robusta green coffee beans (GCB)  from around 100,000 Filipino coffee farmers across the country to produce the country’s number one instant coffee brand, Nescafé.

Apart from conducting research and development on raw coffee materials, the NEDF likewise conducts experiments and trials regularly to discover the best techniques in growing coffee. Farmers can then attend lectures or avail of print materials that discuss these new methods.

One of the programs initiated by the NEDF that proved beneficial to farmers, for example, is the Coffee-Based Sustainable Farming System (CBSFS). This is a planting method that helps farmers increase their income by allowing them to plant other crops alongside coffee.

Aside from conducting research and development, Nescafé likewise spearheads organizations and initiatives that help lay the groundwork for the enhancement of agricultural production and trade practices.

It is a member of the global organization, common code for coffee community (4C) Association, which counts as its members stakeholders in the coffee production, trade and industry, civil society, and public organizations.

Nescafé is likewise at the forefront of the Sustainable Agriculture Initiative (SAI) Platform in both Europe (through its mother company, Nestle Switzerland, S.A.) and the Philippines. The platform lays the groundwork for sustainable agriculture practices.

And all these are part of Nescafé’s mission of providing the best coffee for its consumers.