Coffee has been one of the most beloved beverages for ages, but only a few coffee drinkers would be thinking about dedication and commitment the coffee farmers have put in to grow fine coffee beans for the coffee lovers. As an international coffee brand, NESCAFÉ have long been realizing the value of Thai coffee farmers who are working behind the scene of Thai most-beloved NESCAFÉ coffee. So, NESCAFÉ continues to make progress on the Grown Respectfully Initiative which are universal principals of NESCAFÉ brand practice where our goal is create the value which will become mutual benefit among farmers, communities, and environment by employing principles of responsible coffee farming and sustainability.
Despite the fact that Thailand is one the countries that can produce quality coffee, and the fact that coffee is very popular beverage among Thai people with continuously increasing demand, especially among new generation, farmers are still facing with a number of uncertainties which may cost them their productivity, and lead to unsatisfactory income. The Grown Respectfully Initiative was established with the goal to reassure the future of quality coffee for our consumers now and in the future, along with our supports towards coffee farmers for them to have continuous sustainable development by employing following principles
1.Respecting Farmers: through communication, meeting, discussion, and knowledge sharing with coffee farmers for better coffee farming and better coffee yield through best farming practices.
2.Respecting Communities: through varieties of activities to create stronger coffee farmer communities so as to improve quality of every farmers’ lives.
3.Respecting our Planet: by encouraging agriculture with conservation of natural resources related to farming and coffee production including water stewardship, soil fertility conservation, and the production factory with zero waste-to-landfill approach
Agricultural Research Officers Team get in the field to educate coffee farmers
Mrs. Woraphan Samiso, a representative of coffee farmers from Grown Respectfully initiative from Ranong Province, said “My family has been farming coffee since my parents’ generation and I have been doing it for 30 years. I have gone through a point where I thought I wanted to give up because the coffee trees were getting old, resulting in reduced productivity. But when Nestlé sent their Agricultural Research Officers Team to educate and teach me everything from fertilization, maintenance, pruning, our productivity has increased with improved quality. That was when I felt empowered again.”
“I have known Nestlé since 1997. What has impressed me for the past 20 years is that they never leave us behind. They will send Agricultural Research Officers Team to visit me and other farmers about 3 times a year. They take us on excursion and set up experimental coffee-growing unit to study for better ways. If any farmer has trouble with their farming, Nestlé will send a team to help take care of them, checking soil quality, giving expert advices, and they will leave their contact number for every farmer so that we can call them any time. The last thing is that Nestlé makes us proud of quality coffee. Purchasing directly from us gives us lump-sum amount of income, enabling us to expand our farm, and that is what has inspired me to continue coffee farming until now.”
Mr. Sudjai Kamyod, a representative of coffee farmers from Grown Respectfully initiative said “Nestlé has been kind to me. They let me learn, and educate coffee farmers in the whole subdistrict. They taught me about farm maintenance like using local organic fertilization, the use of fertilizer based on soil analysis, and even to just pick only ripe cherry one by one instead of taking the whole thing down. After following their advices, it keeps getting better. My cost has reduced but the yields has increased. It makes me prouder of myself.
Mr. Sudjai Kamyod in coffee farm at coffee farming learning center
Mr. Thanatorn Punpanishgul, Senior Marketing Manager at Nestlé (Thai) Ltd. - NESCAFÉ Red Cup said “Throughout 46 years of success of NESCAFÉ which has been Thai people’s favorite because of the aromatically rich flavor, besides our supportive consumers, NESCAFÉ have to thank every Thai coffee farmer who we regard as our family. Their sincere dedication create quality coffee. To show our appreciation to Thai coffee farmers who are like our family, NESCAFÉ moves forward with Grown Respectfully initiative to elevate Thai coffer farmers’ quality of life by dispatching the Agricultural Research Officers to conduct training for them in selecting coffee varieties, cultivation, maintenance, and other techniques related to complete coffee farming for quality coffee beans where our team will be working closely with the farmers to make sure that the farmers will have better income and quality of living from increased yields of quality coffee. In the same time, Thai coffee lovers will get to enjoy their favorite coffee from fine coffee beans, creating sustainability for Thai coffee industry.
More than 2,700 coffee farmers have participated in the initiative. This covers 5 major coffee farming areas in Thailand, namely, Chumphon Province, Ranong Province, Surat Thani Province, Nakhon Si Thammarat Province, and Chanthaburi Province. To cut out layers of supply chain and to reassure that the farmers receives worthy compensation for their dedication to farm the quality coffee product, NESCAFÉ has set up 4 Coffee Bean Purchasing Centers to purchase coffee directly from the farmers in Sawi District and Tha Sae District, Chumphon Province and in Kra Buri District and Kapoe District, Ranong Province. At the same time, Nestlé Agricultural Research Officers can escalate average coffee yields per year to 1.45 tons/hector compared to 0.9 ton/hector in the past. NESCAFÉ has also partnered with Department of Agriculture to conduct the research and improve Robusta coffee since 1999.