Nescafé PH Reporting On Its Regenerative Agriculture Company Moves To (Likewise) Profit Robusta Farmers And Coffee Consumers

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This PH teacher is being educated in his own field, Agriculture – I am a BSA major in Ag Edu, UP Los Baños, 1965 – by Nescafé Philippines, a private coffee production company. Instead of offended, I am gladdened. The Nescafé message this time is “Regenerative Agriculture (RA).” I’ll drink (instant coffee) to that! RA is much more than Chemical Agriculture (CA), which majority of Filipino farmers practice, and which has vastly contributed to the occurrence of Climate Change – CA contributes to the generation of greenhouse gases bringing about, among other effects, super typhoons.

As a buyer of green coffee, the company has its NESCAFÉ Plan, which ANN says is “committed to helping coffee farmers improve the quantity and quality of their coffee yield in a manner that is sustainable for the long-term, and profitable to both the farmers and Nestlé” (Author Not Named, Nestlé, nestle.com.ph). Actually, the manner results in more than “sustainable” coffee production; it yields a “regenerative” crop – that is, (1) it increases the crop yield even as (2) it simultaneously restores the soil’s natural fertility. The cultivation process is technically called Regenerative Agriculture (RA).

On the Nescafé RA efforts, Euden Valdez says (23 Jan 2023, “How Regenerative Agriculture Is Helping Build Resilience Of Filipino Coffee Farmers” (PhilStar, philstar.com):

In the Philippines, teaching regenerative agriculture practices is integral to the NESCAFÉ Plan, which for over a decade has worked with smallholder Robusta coffee farmers and communities to help them increase yields, earnings and quality of life, and grow production volumes to eventually match local demand.

Ms Euden quotes Donnel Tiedra, an agronomist of the Nestlé Philippines Government and Industry Affairs, as saying:

Every time a farmer raises a crop, the plants absorb important nutrients from the soil. If we don’t put these back, allow them to regenerate, this will affect the next harvest.

Actually, the coffee farmers do not simply put back the soil nutrients as they were but apply them as contained in a compost preparation. Ms Euden says this is part of what regenerative farmer Arnold Abear does:

[Today, his] knowledge includes four common regenerative practices, namely:  composting, intercropping, agroforestry and planting cover crops.

In composting, Abear sprays an effective microorganism solution directly on dry leaves on the soil, which enhances the growth of roots. For his intercropping setup, he plants coffee along with abaca which he can harvest year-round, while coffee is harvested only once a year.

In the above 60 words, the practices & values of composting and intercropping are emphasized: composting to help the crop roots grow healthy, and intercropping to help the farmer earn more from 2 crops instead of just 1 crop: He harvests from his abaca throughout the year, and so he does not have to wait a whole year to earn when he harvests his coffee after another year has passed.

I emphasize composting: It gives the farmer bigger yields and healthier crop produce he can sell and are healthy for the consumers as well as for his own pockets!@517

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