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Meeting the people behind the Coffee: our Kenyan Coffee Farm Visit

Meeting the people behind the Coffee: our Kenyan Coffee Farm Visit

Recently my colleague and I, headed to Kenya to visit a coffee farm benefitting from Nestlé’s support. Since I head up External Communications for East and Southern Africa Region (ESAR) and Susan is ESAR’s Head of Internal Communications, we already knew a fair amount about the programmes Nestlé offers to support coffee farmers, but seeing it #IRL and meeting the people behind the coffee put a whole new spin on things!  

The scale of impact of Nespresso’s AAA programme is impressive (you can watch more here and here) and we’ve communicated about the Nestlé NESCAFÉ® Youth Initiative too, but walking through the coffee plantations, seeing the beans in their various stages and meeting the farmers who are beneficiaries of these programmes was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that’s inspired us to share our firsthand experience far and wide! 

Aside from being walked through the entire process of coffee-growing, harvesting the beans, drying them and then sending them off to be made into coffee as we know it, we were most impressed with how integral sustainability efforts are when it comes not only to Nestlé sourcing coffee, but to the farmers themselves as they plant, grow and harvest it.  

Nestlé partners with Sucafina to source coffee and Muhia Murigi, Sustainability Coordinator, Sucafina Kenya, together with Monica Mukami, an Agronomist from Sucafina Kenya, explained how we’re supporting farmers with training on Regenerative Agriculture, including farming methods and practices that result in higher yields and the importance of mulching and planting multiple crops.

Watch more:

Perhaps my favourite personality of this trip was Andrew Njoroge Waiganjo, coffee farmer, Agronomist and beneficiary of the Nestlé NESCAFÉ Youth Initiative. Not a young person’s preferred profession, less than 5% of coffee farmers fall under the age of 35 worldwide.

With a growing global generational gap engaged in coffee production, NESCAFÉ’s initiative presents young adults with good reasons to stay on the farm and embrace a coffee future of their own.

Andrew spoke passionately about the revival of the coffee industry owing to the teachings of the programme, what he’s learnt about Regnerative Agriculture, how he shares his learnings and how achieving a quality product at the end of the process is ultimately what he values more than the payment he receives.

Meet Andrew:

More on Regenerative Agriculture 

As Nestlé, we are supporting farmers by scaling Regenerative Agriculture, aiming to improve soil health, sequester carbon, support food security, restore water resources and enable biodiversity. 

Regenerative agriculture is a holistic approach to farming that actively supports the three key agricultural resources – biodiversity, water and soil – and which can benefit communities as part of a just transition. 

The Nestlé model brings regenerative agriculture to life through five pillars: biodiversity, water security and quality; soil health; diverse cropping systems and livestock integration; collective and landscape action. 

The main pillars of regenerative agriculture are 

  • Biodiversity 
  • Water security and quality 
  • Soil health 
  • Diverse cropping systems & livestock integration 
  • Collective and landscape actions