Nestlé Vietnam supports sustainable coffee production
By Binh Nguyen - The Saigon Times Daily
HCMC - Nestlé Vietnam has organized a major contest in Di Linh District in Lam Dong Province as part of a long-term program to support local farmers in adopting sustainable production of coffee in the Central Highlands province.
Three groups of coffee growers, with each numbering 30, competed in cultivation theory for 60 minutes and practices for 45 minutes in the areas of shaping, cutting and grafting coffee; watering, managing land and fertilizing their farms suitably; managing pest and grass; harvesting, processing and preserving their beans.
All the contestants had to show the knowledge and techniques they have learned from agronomists of Nestlé Vietnam in relation to the criteria for sustainable coffee production 4C (Common Code for Coffee Community), GAP (good agriculture practices) and other special techniques in front of the jury board of representatives from the Bao Loc Agro-Forestry Research Center and the Common Code for Coffee Community Association.
Nestlé Vietnam presented prizes in cash and kinds to the participating teams of the Sustainable Coffee Farmer Contest. But more importantly, coffee farmers had the opportunity to exchange the know-how and experience in achieving the efficient and sustainable coffee farming in line with the 4C project and Sustainable Coffee Production program already launched by Nestlé Vietnam in Lam Dong and other provinces in the country.
The emphasis of the program is to assist coffee growers with GAP through appropriate use of water and fertilizer on their coffee farms as well as bean harvest, processing and quality preservation. This is a significant contribution to environmental protection.
Rashid Qureshi, managing director of Nestlé Vietnam, said the company’s ambition was to become the world’s largest recognized sustainable coffee brand to give consumers additional reasons to trust and enjoy NESCAFÉ.
“Our approach will be to continuously improve and ensure that NESCAFÉ brand has the smallest environmental footprint per cup, thereby securing the long term supply of good quality coffee,” Qureshi said.
In the past over 10 years, Nestlé has provided coffee farmers in Vietnam with technical assistance to improve their crops and yields. Today, the world’s leading nutrition, health and wellness company purchases 20-25% of Vietnam’s green coffee exports for processing NESCAFÉ at Nestlé’s factories around the globe.
Vietnam’s coffee industry is striving to enhance both quality and productivity with an aim to register outbound sales of US$2.4 billion by 2020 compared to US$1.7 billion last year.