On Christmas Eve, BusinessMirror says the news is, "Nescafé Plan: Transforming 1,500 Farmers Into Agripreneurs[1]." (field image from Philcoffeeboard.com[2], mug image from Oberlo[3]). Really?
Under the Plan, "Benrose 'Ben' Subasco has metamorphosed from subsistence farmer to coffee-based agripreneur." Harvesting only 150 kg/ha coffee in 2013, his harvest grew to 2.3 metric tons/ha in 2018 – a fantastic growth of 15 plus times! Ben is now a Nescafé Plan Coffee Ambassador, linking the company with farmers, "inspiring them to adopt best practices in coffee farming." So far, so good.
In the Philippines, Nescafé started manufacturing coffee in 1962, or 57 years ago. I wonder why Nescafé launched the so-called Nescafé Plan only in 2010, after almost half a century!? Actually, it was "a global initiative to help ensure a sustainable supply of quality green coffee." To increase its supply, Nescafé helps the farmers increase their yields. The increase in supply also means the increase of income of coffee growers. Quid pro quo.
Under the Plan, each year an average of 8,000 Filipino farmers are trained in full coffee production, BusinessMirror says. "The program is regarded as one of the more successful stakeholder engagement models in the local coffee industry."
I note: "stakeholder engagement" – it is profitable to Nescafé, of course. Is it profitable to the coffee growers? More than that, does the engagement result in continuously improving sustainability of the farming as well as the farmers? By "sustainable," I mean characterized by being (1) technically feasible, (2) economically viable, (3) environmentally sound, and (4) socially acceptable. We can assume that the Nescafé Plan is sustainable in terms of criteria #1, #3 and #4, but does it meet the requirement of criterion #2?
The BusinessMirror report says that net incomes of participating farmers have increased from P30,000 in 2018 to P90,000 in 2019. A fantastic 300% increase, welcome news anywhere!
As a result of Project Coffee+, the farm of Arnold Abear of Maramag, Bukidnon has become the model for intercropping coffee, abaca and ginger. And he has successfully inspired the coffee farmers in his village to form the Bagong Silang Farmers' Association with 39 members, with him as Chair.
Another successful coffee grower that BusinessMirror points out is Ben (mentioned above) of Bagumbayan, Sultan Kudarat, who "has metamorphosed... into a coffee-based agripreneur." And today, "Ben now buys and consolidates coffee in his area."
Now, I see a major problem there! Where Ben has been successful as a coffee grower, he has also been successful as a coffee trader. As a merchant or middleman for the other coffee farmers, he is denying them their fair share from the values they have added to the produce from growing to harvesting. It's the same story – the merchant determines how much the producer earns, and how much more the merchant earns himself.
This is entrepreneurship for the merchant – but not the coffee grower. The final hustle of entrepreneurship for farmers is marketing, and the Nescafé Plan is not minding it, and the merchants love it!@517
[1]https://businessmirror.com.ph/2019/12/24/nescafe-plan-transforming-1500-farmers-into-agripreneurs/?fbclid=IwAR2vUDBu9ZhApi-BSyr7tr6qAv7geV7f7bLbCny4L9aH9ZyhrdFci6OqQIU
[2]https://philcoffeeboard.com/from-bean-to-brew/
[3]https://www.oberlo.com/blog/what-is-entrepreneurship
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