Jacobs Douwe Egberts (JDE) and IDH are partnering with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Green Invest Asia to measure the impact of the organisations’ joint sustainable coffee activities in Vietnam.
“This collaboration is one more step in JDE’s commitment to work continuously toward 100 per cent responsibly sourced coffee and tea by 2025,” says Do Ngoc Sy, JDE Sustainability Manager in Asia and the Pacific.
“In addition to IDH’s foundational support, we are pleased to benefit from USAID Green Invest Asia’s expertise in low-emission production, which is essential for us to calibrate our efforts and reach our sustainability goal.”
Since 2015, IDH has worked with JDE and its four key suppliers in Vietnam to reduce the carbon footprint and enhance the sustainability of coffee grown in Vietnam’s Central Highlands region.
“We know we are moving in the right direction in some regions with carbon reduction and increased farmer profitability, but we need an in-depth carbon footprint analysis before exploring further investment into large-scale sourcing areas in Vietnam and beyond,” says Chi Tran, Vietnam’s Senior Program Manager at IDH.
Combined, these suppliers trade more than half of Vietnam’s annual Robusta coffee output. Working together, IDH says it and JDE are supporting nearly 14,000 farming households that supply JDE to optimise their fertiliser use, improve water management, and diversify the types of crops and trees grown alongside coffee, also known as intercropping.
“JDE is a global heavyweight in the coffee sector,” says USAID Green Invest Asia Director Christy Owen. “It offers a valuable market entry point to influence both smallholder farmer livelihoods and improve sustainable land use in the region.”
Vietnam is one of the world’s top producers of Robusta coffee, cultivating some 1.7 million tonnes in 2018-19 according to the International Coffee Organization. USAID says nationwide, smallholder growers use more water and fertilizer than required, resulting in high levels of greenhouse gas emissions and lower profitability.
Other areas of coffee operations for JDE in the region include Indonesia, Laos, Papua New Guinea, and China.
USAID Green Invest Asia will analyse farmer profitability alongside farm-level carbon emissions to identify the most effective interventions and business models.
“It is wholly possible to transform Vietnam’s coffee sector from being a source of carbon emissions to becoming a ‘sink’ that traps emissions. In partnership, we have a fighting chance.”
