Pruning materials – distribution to farmers
Kigali: Nestlé and Sucafina – a leading sustainable “Farm to Roaster” coffee company, today announced the extension of their partnership for the next three years focusing particularly on the social-economic inclusion of women and youth in Rwanda.
Nestlé and Sucafina joined forces in 2015 to run a program called ‘’Coffee by women’’ under the Nescafé Plan. The program aims at improving the livelihoods and resilience of small-scale coffee producers across Rwanda while ensuring long term sourcing of high-quality coffee. So far, the program has reached 5,053 coffee farmers with 37% comprising of women and 24%, youth. For this second phase, Nestlé and its supplier Sucafina aim at reaching 3,057 women.
Coffee beans produced in this region/country are roasted and used to manufacture one of Nestlé’s coffee brand, Zoégas, popular in Sweden.
“Our consumers ask for responsibly sourced high-quality coffee and the taste profile from Eastern Africa is very popular. To ensure higher coffee standards in the future, we need the commitment of everyone in the value chain. By involving women and youth and through education, we do not only secure coffee for the future, but can also make an impact for the coffee growers’ families and communities”, said Hans Nilsson, Marketing Manager Zoégas (Nestlé).
Max Veglio, Managing Director for Rwacof Exports Ltd, Sucafina’s subsidiary in Rwanda, said “At Sucafina, we operate at every level of the worldwide coffee supply chain. We have been processing and exporting coffee in Rwanda since 1996 and have amassed extensive knowledge of the internal and export markets with a worldwide network of buyers. This second phase of the Nescafé Plan – Coffee by women, follows on the successes of our first phase in the region. This collaboration will have a special emphasis on the inclusion of women and youth which was particularly successful in the initial phase”
The program – co-funded jointly by Nestlé and Sucafina SA, will be implemented by Kahawatu Foundation. As part of the program, farmers will receive, continuous training and technical support and will be certified to a validated international sustainability standard.
The program will target over 8,000 households around five western coffee washing stations (CWS) of Rwacof namely Musasa, Mushonyi, Nyamyumba, Rwinyoni, and Ngororero. Over 30% of them will be women.
Women play a significant role in coffee farming activities, as well as their critical contribution to families and communities, but they frequently do not have the same opportunities to receive training or to take on leading organizational roles. The project supports gender equality and women empowerment with a tailored program to increase the household incomes, strengthen financial management, and develop communication and influencing skills, helping some of them to assume leading community roles.
Coffee is still a major source of livelihood for thousands of Rwandese smallholder farmers and this partnership aims to have a higher inclusion of women and youth, improved economics of coffee farming, improved livelihood and living standards and thus improved household resilience.
The joint project will also contribute significantly to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
About Sucafina Group: Sucafina is a leading sustainable “Farm to Roaster” coffee company, with a family tradition in commodities that stretches back to 1905. Today, with more than 850 employees in 28 countries, the Group is a leading player in the world of green, roasted, instant coffee merchanting. With its main trading arm based in Geneva, Sucafina sources coffee from most producing countries, often directly from farmers, to provide its partners with sustainable value across the global supply chain.
Nestlé is the world’s largest food and beverage company. The company’s performance is driven by its Nutrition, Health and Wellness strategy. Nestlé is based in the Swiss town of Vevey where it was founded more than 150 years ago. It is present in 190 countries around the world and employs over 300,000 people worldwide. Nestlé offers a wide portfolio of products and services for people and their pets throughout their lives. Its more than 2,000 brands range from global icons like Nescafé or Nespresso to local favourites like Milo.
About Zoégas: Zoégas was founded in Helsingborg Sweden in 1886 by Carlos and Maria Zoéga and is the leading brand within dark roasted coffee in Sweden. Zoégas is a Nestlé brand since 1986, and has a great passion for sustainably produced coffee, now and for the future. Zoégas coffee is roasted and composed to specific taste blends by high quality Arabica beans with focus on beans from East Africa.
Kahawatu Foundation is a not-for-profit organization registered in Switzerland and responsible for implementing sustainability projects on behalf of Sucafina SA. The Foundation was established in 2012 with a mission to improve the livelihoods of smallholder coffee farmers in East Africa – who depend on coffee as their main source of income – and to address subsequent socio-economic consequences. (End)