Nestlé Nescafé has unveiled a new coffee center of excellence in Batangas City in the central Philippines to improve the quality and quantity of the coffee crop in the country.
The Batangas City facility is expected to emerge as a major source of coffee seedlings throughout the country with a capacity of one million seedlings.
Occupying five-hectare space, the facilty is set up with an investment of CHF500,000. It will offer Nestlé's coffee farming technology and training to coffee growing farmers, besides securing long-term supply of the crop.
The center includes a Robusta production nursery with a capacity to produce some 500,000 coffee seedlings, which will be distributed to growers at cost price.
Nestlé expects to distribute coffee seedlings to 3,500 farmers through this center by 2020.
The facility also features a buying station, which helps farmers to sell their coffee production directly to the company at a price in line with those offered on the global market. The center also includes a composting facility for organic fertilizer.
Nestlé Philippines senior vice president and corporate affairs head Edith de Leon said: "This is a significant milestone which underlines our continuing support of the Philippine coffee industry and our commitment to creating shared value for its various stakeholders, especially small-scale coffee farmers."
