There were reports of farmers demonstrating in Chiapas, Mexico, alleging that Nestlé is not paying them fairly for their coffee. Is it true?
As with other commodities, coffee prices are based on the global market price. Nestlé buys coffee on the market, and we pay premiums for responsibly sourced coffee. Nestlé does not purchase coffee directly from the farmers and the price paid to the coffee mills (our direct suppliers) this year was historically the highest we ever paid in Mexico, reflecting the high market price for Robusta beans.
In addition, according to The Rainforest Alliance assessment of coffee farmers participating in the Nescafé Plan in Mexico from 2018-2022, the average coffee revenue increased significantly as farmers benefited from higher coffee prices, better yields and optimized fertilizer use. For more information, please see the full Rainforest Alliance assessment.
Does the Nescafé Plan really benefit smallholder farmers in Mexico? What about elsewhere?
Nestlé Mexico buys coffee from coffee mills that source from over 80 000 farmers in the states of Chiapas, Veracruz, Guerrero, Oaxaca, and Puebla, of which 18 000 formally participate in the Nescafé Plan, many of them since the program began in 2010. Since then, we have invested over 600 million pesos (USD 36 million) in the Nescafé Plan in Mexico and have provided 34 million Robusta coffee plantlets to farmers. Through this program, we pay a premium for responsibly sourced coffee.
Globally, more than 140 000 coffee farmers are part of the Nescafé Plan in 16 countries worldwide. We place great importance on the ongoing dialogue and engagement we have with farmers, who continue to voluntarily participate in the Nescafé Plan because of the benefits they see. These include increased coffee yields and productivity, rejuvenation and renovation of coffee plots through disease-resistant and climate-resilient plantlets, reduced input costs, and free-of-charge assistance and trainings from Nestlé agronomists. We also pay premiums for the quality coffee we require. All these steps contribute to increasing the household income of coffee farmers and help to reduce the impact of market price fluctuations for this commodity.
In 2022, we announced an additional CHF 1 billion investment by 2030 in the Nescafé Plan 2030 to help drive regenerative agriculture, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve farmers' livelihoods. More details are available in our Nescafé Plan 2030 Progress Report.
