Nespresso has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Mozambique’s Gorongosa National Park to promote the local coffee industry as part of the Nespresso’s Reviving Origins program.
Reviving Origins aims to restore high-quality coffee production in regions around the world where it has been under threat due to political conflict, economic hardship or environmental disasters.
Through the implementation of its AAA Sustainable Quality Program, Nespresso will support coffee farmers in the Gorongosa National Park to increase the quality of their coffee, promote sustainable farming practices and agroforestry, while improving farmer’s livelihoods through capacity and skills building.
“Nespresso is very proud to start this collaboration with the Gorongosa Project to revive the coffee production in Mozambique,” says Jean-Marc Duvoisin, former Nespresso CEO and current Senior Vice President Strategic Business Partnerships, Joint Ventures and Brand Licensing at Nestlé.
“We will work directly with coffee farmers to help establish a high-quality coffee supply that will increase economic opportunities in this region while giving our consumers a unique coffee experience”.
The Gorongosa Project, established 25 years ago by the Carr Foundation and the Government of Mozambique, has been working for the last decade on implementing a program called Gorongosa Coffee, dedicated to creating employment for smallholder farmers and promoting rainforest reforestation.
The Gorongosa region was at the centre of civil conflict and political unrest from 1977 until the Peace Treaty of 2019, which together with unsustainable farming methods, have severely damaged the Gorongosa’s forests. Since 2015, local farmers have been encouraged to plant coffee seedlings on the slopes of Mount Gorongosa. The region, called the Buffer Zone, consists of 600,000 hectares that surround the Gorongosa National Park, intending to reforest Mount Gorongosa through a shade-grown coffee initiative.
“The collaboration with Nespresso will help the Gorongosa Coffee program achieve its ambition to dedicate 1000 hectares to high-quality shade-grown Arabica coffee, translating into over 5000 hectares of protected and restored rainforest and sustainable livelihoods for over 2500 families,” says Matthew Jordan from the Gorongosa National Park.
Nespresso aims to make the new coffee from Mozambique available, as a limited edition, in 2022.
Through its Reviving Origins program, Nespresso is investing CHF10 million (about US$10.3 million) for five years – 2017 to 2021 – to revive the coffee industries in selected countries to encourage rural economic development, while giving coffee lovers access to the world’s rarest, highest quality coffees.
The Reviving Origins program is part of Nespresso’s overall commitment to invest CHF500 million (about US$515 million) from 2014 to 2020 in sustainability initiatives as part of its The Positive Cup sustainability strategy.
