KUALA LUMPUR, 2 October 2019 – Nestlé Malaysia with the support of Federal Land Development Authority (FELDA), Kedah State Department of Agriculture (KSDA), Kedah Economic Development Authority (KEDA), Pertubuhan Kami Anak FELDA (KAF) and Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (MARDI) launched its NESCAFÉ Grown Respectfully Programme, a sustainable coffee farming initiative, to help revive the Malaysian coffee farming sector.
The pilot phase of the NESCAFÉ Grown Respectfully Programme will commence in Kedah, which has optimum climate conditions for coffee cultivation. Nestlé will be producing over approximately 50,000 Robusta coffee seedlings to be distributed to around 200 local farmers for planting across 100 acres of land by 2020. The seedlings are being jointly developed with KSDA.
Through this multi-stakeholder alliance, the NESCAFÉ Grown Respectfully Programme will support farmers at every stage of the coffee farming process to successfully develop the upstream coffee chain. The programme will help farmers improve their livelihoods through a strong support programme of training & knowledge-sharing to maximise the land utilisation for growing alternative crops and teaching best agricultural practices to increase yield and productivity.
The Nestlé Group is the largest purchaser of green coffee in the world, sourcing around 850,000 tonnes of green coffee every year. The high demand for green coffee and good environmental conditions are evidence that there are significant prospects in reviving the local coffee farming sector in Malaysia.
The multi-stakeholder collaboration through the NESCAFÉ Grown Respectfully Programme also aims to contribute towards strengthening Malaysia’s food security and provide opportunities for trade diversification.
According to Nestlé, its 3-acre mother plant nursery built in the 1990s and located in Sik, Kedah, is being rehabilitated to provide adequate planting materials for coffee seedling production and is central to the Grown Respectfully Programme.
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