Nespresso to invest US$20m in DRC to support coffee-growing community

Nespresso aims to continue to support the local community and economy by investing US$20 million spent across coffee purchases, price premiums and technical assistance, by 2026 in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) – helping to give coffee farmers access to the global markets.

The ambition is also to help support fundraising of an additional US$20 million to support the coffee-growing communities in Kivu. This initiative is part of the unique Nespresso Reviving Origins programme, founded 10 years ago, aiming to restore coffee agriculture in regions where it is under threat.

In 1980, coffee was the second most important export for the DRC and ranked among the world’s finest, but declined in the early 2000s due to years of instability that had a devastating impact on the industry.

Since the launch of the Nespresso Reviving Origins programme in 2020, it has enabled the production of the exquisite coffees from the Lake Kivu region, where the once-thriving coffee farming community has been, and still is, devastated by decades of political and economic instability that continues to rise today.

Guillaume Le Cunff, CEO of Nespresso, says: “Kivu has the potential to be among the world’s great coffee regions, but has faced extremely challenging conditions in recent years. Through our Reviving Origins programme, we work closely with Congolese farmers, and we have joined forces with partners including Eastern Congo Initiative (ECI)/ASILI, TechnoServe, the US Agency for International Development, The Global Environment Facility, Clarmondial, International Union for Conservation of Nature, and Virunga Coffee to restore and revitalise Kivu as a leading source of high-quality, exceptional Arabica coffee.

“In the context of escalating violence in eastern DRC where access to water is becoming insufficient, water-borne illnesses have resurfaced and daily life is under significant upheaval, it is even more critical to help build community resilience, access to healthcare and clean water as well as support farmer livelihoods by continuing to give them access to the global market and empowering them in their agricultural transition.”

With the continued investment of US$20 million in the region, as well as with the ambition to support to raise funds of another US$20 million, Nespresso aims to continue the work to back the revival of the DRC coffee sector.

“Nespresso’s deep commitment to Kivu is creating lasting change in communities across the region. In our work together equipping farmers with the knowledge and market connections they need to thrive, we have seen the transformative impact that coffee can have in Kivu,” says TechnoServe CEO, William Warshauer. “We believe this initiative will help inspire other companies to invest there.”

Abraham Leno, executive director of ECI, adds: “Since we started working together, we have built a large health centre and an entire water system in the farming community of Minova.  Today, our medical team provides safe deliveries and gets hundreds of kids ready for school. More than 22 000 people from the local community have access to clean water, and as displacement soars, we are a primary source of water for thousands of families fleeing violence. With the continued support from Nespresso, we aim to continue this work, expanding dignified and sustainable access to clean water and healthcare.”

Nespresso’s unique sustainable green coffee sourcing programme, the Nespresso AAA Sustainable Quality™ Programme, provides the foundation for the work in the Reviving Origins programme. For 20 years, the AAA Programme has built strong relationships with coffee farmers across the world to protect the nature and life in landscapes where coffee is grown and to strengthen communities’ resilience. When supporting to rebuilding and reviving the coffee sector in DRC, Nespresso will further deploy the AAA Programme and support the farmers in implementing regenerative practices such as crop diversification, stumping, soil health improvement, agroforestry etc. Via the AAA Programme, Nespresso will also implement a biodiversity tracking tool using the DRC’s unique birdlife.

Other important projects within the AAA Programme are gender equality training. By advancing gender equality, this can have a significant impact on coffee quality and productivity and the livelihoods of coffee farming communities. To date, concrete examples of actions to reduce gender disparities and increase women’s empowerment include the increase of women agronomists (currently in the DRC, 42% of the agronomists are female), training for farmers which increases women’s empowerment, such as financial literacy, household nutrition, Safe Spaces gender training and women’s leadership.

Finally, since 2020 Nespresso has been collaborating with an impact digital startup to verify and trace the coffee by harnessing the power technology. The platform will automatically verify that farmers receive the right payment (including the Nespresso AAA Sustainable Quality™ Programme premium) for the high-quality coffee they produce.