With Partners’ Blend, a Fairtrade certified coffee launched in the UK in 2005, Nestlé is bringing its sustainable approach to poor communities in El Salvador. The project focuses on small farmers with less than 10 hectares, 20% of whom are female. They are part of four recently Faitrade-certified cooperatives. With ECOM, a coffee trader, Nestlé provides technical support, agricultural material and plants to help the farmers cultivate good quality coffee. Nestlé also helps them diversify into citrus fruit production, chicken breeding and tree planting for shade and timber.

Ian Bretman, Deputy Director of the Fair Trade Foundation, commented: “Fairtrade works with organizations of smallholder coffee growers, who are the most vulnerable to fluctuations of market prices, and guarantees them a stable price. The launch of the first Fairtrade product by Nestlé is therefore a welcome step forward.”

Nescafé Partners' Blend also works with smallholding farmers in Ethiopia.