Nestlé promotes comprehensive guidelines on water conservation to its Farmer Connect network in Vietnam, through its Nescafé Better Farming Practices developed with the NGO Rainforest Alliance.Working with the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, the company helped to spread water-saving techniques to coffee farmers beyond its own supply network. We have worked in a public–private partnership with the SDC since 2011 to improve irrigation practices with Vietnam’s coffee farmers, and educate those beyond our network about good agricultural practices and water management. Our five year partnership now serves more than 50000 farmers and by 2018, the project will deliver the following outcomes: Action Plan: In cooperation with the University of Neuchatel, a large-scale water supply and demand study conducted in Dak Lak province found that groundwater resources are replenished 2 to 3 months after the dry season. Early warning weather system: in cooperation with the Hanoi University of Science, a short-term weather prediction model was developed for the Central Highlands. It is currently being fine-tuned and tested. The weather forecast is updated every six hours and predicts up to 36 hours ahead. Farmer training programme: around 60 trainers have attended Train the Trainer sessions, and almost 7000 beneficiaries have been trained on Good Agricultural Practices topics. Participation rates in the farmer field school averaged around 80%. Policy advocacy: in cooperation with the National Agricultural Extension Centre, an agricultural forum focusing on water and fertiliser use in the coffee sector was attended by around 200 farmers from the five Central Highland provinces, where they had the opportunity to directly interact with key coffee experts. The cost includes training to 125 extension officers, training on Good Agricultural Practices including water management to 50,000 coffee farming households, and establish 50 demo plots.

Project Results