Nespresso makes progress in improving lives of coffee farmers

Nestlé Nespresso says it has made significant progress towards improving the lives of thousands of coffee farmers in countries ranging from South Sudan to Colombia, as part of the company's AAA Sustainable Quality(TM) Program.

Speaking on the occasion of the one-year anniversary of The Positive Cup, Nespresso's 2020 sustainability strategy, Jean-Marc Duvoisin, ceo, commented: "Through our sustainability investments, the first steps have been taken to rebuild the coffee industry in South Sudan, and we are helping to initiate a better future for farmers in Colombia through a retirement savings plan.

"These are small steps given the scale of the challenges, but I am proud that we can do our part to help farmers, while securing the future supply of the highest quality coffees for our business and our Club Members."

Nespresso aims to source 100% of its coffee from its AAA Sustainable Quality(TM) Program by 2020. This depends heavily on the extension of the program into Kenya and Ethiopia, to support a more skilled, self-sufficient and sustainable farming community. In the last 12 months Nespresso, working with partnerTechnoServe, have provided training and technical assistance to over 10'000 farmers, and will reach 50,000 farmers by 2020.

In addition to the expansion of the AAA Program in Africa, Nespresso has made progress to implement welfare solutions to ensure that coffee farming remains attractive to younger generations too. Last year it launched a pilot retirement savings plan, together with the Colombian Ministry of Labour, Fairtrade International and local coffee cooperatives. So far 850 AAA Fairtrade certified farmers have entered the retirement savings plan.

Nespresso has also progressed with its agroforestry plan. The reintroduction of trees in coffee producing regions helps protect natural ecosystems, thereby strengthening coffee farms' resilience to climate change and ensuring sustainable coffee production for the future, says the company. Around 130,000 trees were planted in 2014 in Guatemala and Colombia as part of pilot programs.

In the first half of 2015, approximately 200,000 trees have been planted in Ethiopia and Guatemala, and another 300,000 will be planted by the end of 2015 in Mexico and Colombia.