USAID to invest $3.18 million in South Sudan’s coffee farmers

Nespresso and TechnoServe announced on 7 April that the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) will invest $3.18 million over three years in a project the coffee roaster and not-for-profit are leading in South Sudan. Since 2011, Nespresso and TechnoServe have worked directly with local farmers to revive high-quality coffee production in South Sudan, while developing commercial channels to enable its sale and export. Nespresso has already invested more than $2.5 million in the project. The country’s coffee industry was decimated after years of civil war, and oil now comprises 99 per cent of its exports. Nespresso Director of Creating Shared Value Daniel Weston shared the details of the project with GCR Mag in January 2016.  To date, more than 700 farmers have been integrated into the Nespresso AAA Sustainable Quality™ Program, which provides support, training and technical assistance to improve sustainability and productivity. USAID’s contribution will help expand the existing initiative to support a thriving and inclusive coffee sector in South Sudan by increasing scale and ensuring lasting impact. The funding injection will also allow the program to be extended to new communities, allowing more farmers in South Sudan to benefit from the revival of South Sudan’s coffee industry. The initiative aims to triple coffee incomes and improve household resilience. By 2019, the program is looking to train 1500 South Sudanese farmers, of whom at least 25 per cent will be women, and help establish nine cooperative-owned wet mills. “This new partnership with USAID will be instrumental to accelerate the progress Nespresso and TechnoServe have already made, working directly with South Sudanese farmers,” said Jean-Marc Duvoisin, CEO of Nestlé Nespresso, in a statement. George Clooney, Nespresso Brand Ambassador commented in the statement: “Coffee is a much-needed source of income for farmers in South Sudan – a country still ravaged by war. Investing in grassroots development and empowerment of local farming communities will help provide the foundation for sustainable economic development.”