Nestle to encourage more women and young adults to take up coffee farming

Nestle’s ongoing investment and training scheme in Kenya is picking up pace as the company will be making further attempts encourage women and teenagers into the coffee farming business, and to apply for strategic leadership roles within key cooperatives and agricultural societies.

According to the Kenyan website Coast Week, this is their second phase of a multi-year policy that, it is hoped, will bring about a higher level of gender equity in the sector and bring through a new generation to run the farms and work the fields in years to come.

One of the first training events linked to this project took place recently in Embu, where thirty-five women and 18-35 year-olds from across Kenya were trained on agricultural practices, good governance and various, practical life skills that can be used in the industry.

Coffee Management Services Limited is helping out the training sessions.

Around $400,000 has been earmarked for the venture with a significant percentage of this going towards the young adults and women empowerment schemes, Ciru Miring’u, the Managing Director of Nestle East Africa said.

The remaining money will shore up supply chains and offer technical support to the farmers that are under Nestle’s banner.

Since the scheme started there has already been some positive results, as Ms. Miring’u has previously pointed out: “The number of women taking up leadership roles in the Farmer’s Cooperative Societies has increased from 5% in 2011 to 10 in 2015”

Continuing, Ms. Miring’u noted that the overall number of women working in the industry has also increased – something which deserves acclaim.

“In the initial phase of the training [scheme] we had targeted to reach about 1,000 women,” she said.

“We now have about 10,000 female coffee farmers who represent about 30% of the farmers we engaged in the Nescafe Plan Initiative.”

As well as encouraging more women and young adults into the coffee industry in Kenya, the Nescafe Plan has also overseen the construction of a new production facility in Vietnam in recent months.