New Delhi, JAN. 5:
Nestlé India has rolled out the India leg of its global Nescafe Plan by setting up a coffee demonstration farm and training centre in Kodagu district, Karnataka.

Nescafe Plan is the Swiss MNC’s ambitious global initiative to bring under one umbrella coffee farming, production and consumption activities — one that it says will “help it optimise its coffee supply chain.” In 2010, when the world’s biggest coffee buyer had unveiled the Plan, it had announced an investment of CHF 500 million (Rs 2,811 crore).

Mr Jawaid Akhtar, Chairman, Coffee Board of India, inaugurated the coffee demonstration farm at Bindhu Estate, Kodagu. Nestle will be training farmers in using technology and best practices for sustainable production of high quality coffee.

Mr Antonio Helio Waszyk, Chairman & Managing Director, Nestlé India, said, “In the Nescafe Plan, our team will work with coffee farmers as well as other experts and the Nestlé R&D Centre in France to combine the traditional wisdom amongst the coffee farmers in India with the benefits of modern science to make coffee farming more successful and sustainable.”

Nestlé, which purchases 10 per cent of the world’s supply of green coffee every year, had launched the Nescafe Plan in 2010 in Mexico. Under the Plan, the Swiss MNC had said it would double the amount of coffee it sources from farmers directly to 180,000 tonnes in the next five years.

The idea in India, it says, is also to improve penetration of its instant coffee brand Nescafe amongst consumers and expand the market.

Mr Nandu Nandkishore, Nestlé Executive Vice-President and Zone Director for Asia, Oceania, Africa and West Asia , said, “By working with farmers in this way, we know where the coffee comes from, and they know they have a partner who will give them competitive prices for high quality produce.”

chitra.n@thehindu.co.in

source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com / Industry & Economy / Our Bureau / New Delhi/ New Delhi, January 05th, 2012