Even before the opening of the Nescafé factory in Dongguan in 1992, Nestlé China had established an Agriculture Technical Assistance Service in Yunnan Province to encourage and support coffee cultivation, and created an Experiment and Demonstration (E&D) Farm in Jinghong. Almost 20 years on, Yunnan – traditionally a tea-growing area – has become a quality Arabica coffee-growing region.

BEST PRACTICE: At the Nestlé Experimental and Demonstration Farm near Jinghong, Yunnan Province, China, the coffee cherries are picked.

Nestlé purchases directly from local farmers, 80% of whom are smallholders. Nestlé also supplies plantlets suited to local soil conditions and climate, and advises farmers on techniques to improve both quality and yield. Nestlé’s coffee procurement supports up to 19 000 people, and since 1995, nearly 4100 farmers have received training on planting, quality control and processing techniques.

Traditional coffee-processing methods require a lot of water – approximately 150 litres per kilogramme of green coffee. New equipment introduced in 2003 at the Nestlé E&D Farm has decreased water consumption by more than 80% and also serves to demonstrate best practice to other coffee farmers in the region.

The content of this page was externally assured by Bureau Veritas, March 2011.