Project

Coffee, Cocoa and Climate Change Project

  2020-2023

In Nicaragua, in partnership with GIZ, this programme was designed to improve the productivity of smallholder coffee and cocoa farms.

The project saw 100,000 native and climate-resilient forest, coffee and cocoa trees planted. In addition, 320+ producers– 30% of whom were women– received training on good agricultural practices such as soil conservation, crop diversification and integrated pest management.

Project

MOCCA

  2020-2023

In Peru, MOCCA (Maximising Opportunities in Coffee and Cocoa in the Americas) supports more than 18,000 small and medium-sized coffee and cocoa producers in the Amazonas, Cajamarca, San Martín and Central Jungle regions to increase their productivity.

ECOM Peru and SMS are looking to expand our activities and sustainable supply chain to new regions of Peru, such as the Central Forest corridor.

Project

Uganda Smallholder Farmer Livelihoods Initiative

2023-Present

In Uganda, we work with USAID to increase exports of coffee and sesame from Uganda, especially to the growing US market.

By the end of 2023, 10,836 new sesame and coffee farmers (6,811 men and 4,025 women) were onboarded to the export market and assisted in achieving the Organic, Rainforest Alliance (RA) and Starbucks’ Coffee and Farmer Equity (C.A.F.E.) Practices certification.

Project

Village Savings and Loans Associations (VSLAs)

2023

In Ghana, we promote the use of VSLAs in cocoa-growing communities. As of September 2023, 52 VSLAs had been set up in 36 communities, with 1,283 women. In total, the VSLAs have collected $66,049.82 in savings to date (~$1,270 per VSLA) and disbursed $42,284.39 in loans for their members ($813 per VSLA).

Project

Financing growth in Vietnam

2023

In Vietnam, ECOM’s SMS team partnered with IDH Farmfit Fund – the world’s largest public-private impact fund for smallholder farmers – to provide access to inputs through affordable finance in Vietnam. The programme successfully reached 493 farmers in 2023.

The aim now is to expand the scheme into what we hope will become a self-sufficient business, supporting more coffee farmers to develop sustainable businesses.

Project

Increasing cocoa farmers’ income through market systems

2020-2023

In Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and Nigeria, together with BMZ and develoPPP, we have been working to improve farming households’ incomes and achieve at least 15% of additional farmer income from non-cocoa crops based on income according to the baseline income level. We have supported 5,000 farmers through diversifying crops and supporting the marketing of their products.

Project

The ECOM Foundation's Satellite School Programme

2022-Present

In El Salvador, the ECOM Foundation's Satellite School Programme offers multi-curriculum, all-grade studies for school-age children, as well as for the adult farming communities.

One such satellite school, the San Andres School in Apaneca, opened in 2022. Equipped with 31 computers, the school started with 360 enrolled students, which increased to 418 (50.9% boys, 49.1% girls) in 2023, with a 95% attendance rate.

Project

Helping rebuild Mexico’s cocoa industry

In Mexico, over the past decade, over 1,000 producers have been provided with cocoa varieties with higher tolerances to disease to promote increased production.

ECOM’s nursery can produce up to 500,000 high-quality cocoa plants and agroforestry trees each year for dispersal to farmers. We also offer producers training to assist them in growing the new varieties, which can contribute to increased income for farmers and a long-term future for Mexican cocoa.

Project

Working towards gender equity in cocoa

2020-2023

In Ghana, ECOM Ghana partnered with USAID to promote gender equality and empower women in the cocoa value chain in Ghana.

Together, we piloted a comprehensive gender mainstreaming into our operations, provided training for women in cocoa communities and training for ECOM staff on gender-inclusive farmer engagement. While this programme is currently specific to Ghana, we are hoping to build on its success by adapting it for use in other origins.

Project

Developing youth skills to create Bosques del Mañana

In Nicaragua, ECOM and Nestlé have joined forces on the Bosques del Mañana (Forests of Tomorrow) project. 

Since its launch in 2021, we have planted 2,600,315 native trees. Producers have been provided with constant support, follow-up and supervision in the field. The positive impact of the project has been felt in various regions of the country, from Wiwilí to Nueva Guinea, generating environmental benefits and encouraging community participation.

Project

Improving farmers' productivity in Burundi

2016-Present

In Burundi, we launched the Akawa project in 2016 to help farmers reach financial autonomy, which goes beyond just producing coffee.

Through Akawa, we identify and select Leader Farmers, who receive training in GAPs which they then disseminate to other farmers in their area for maximum impact. The project also targets support for women through empowerment groups that enable participants to achieve greater independent decision making around their livelihoods.

Project

Strengthening the Ethiopian coffee supply chain

2022-2024

In Ethiopia, ECOM has been collaborating with the Sustainability and Value Added in Agricultural Supply Chains in Ethiopia (SUVASE) project alongside GIZ to support human rights and the environment in one of the world’s largest coffee-producing countries.

So far, 200 farmers in the Jimma region have adopted the ECOM SMS Code and 125 farmers in the Illubabor region have been trained in good agricultural practices, quality and business management. 

Project

Providing safe spaces for children

2022-Present

In Costa Rica, Alianza de Sueños (Dream Alliance) is a project we operate with Nespresso’s AAA farms during the coffee harvest season in Costa Rica. It seeks to provide a safe space for the children of seasonal coffee pickers to avoid child labour.

The first Casa de Alegria (House of Joy) opened in December 2022, with 30 children. Following the project’s success, other producers joined the scheme in 2023 and there are now three casas in operation in Costa Rica, supporting 120 children and their families, with similar schemes in Nicaragua and Guatemala. 

Project

Growing the ‘Fruits of Restitution’

In Colombia, following decades of violence, many coffee producers were forced to abandon their lands. Condor, ECOM’s Colombian operation, works with URT (the Land Restitution Unit) to help producers cultivate high-quality, specialty beans and sell these to buyers. This educational project has enabled producers to move from being conflict survivors to commercial entrepreneurs.

URT describes the coffee from these families as the ‘Frutas de Restitucion’ (the ‘Fruits of Restitution’).

Project

Building climate resilience in Vietnam

In Vietnam, we have implemented initiatives designed to improve the climate resilience of the Robusta supply chain in two of the main producing provinces in the Central Highlands.

This includes implementing soil conservation practices, with distribution of organic fertilisers, soil amendments, cover crops and mycorrhizae products, supported by the development of nutrition programmes on a large scale, with up to 4,000 farms provided with soil analysis.

Project

Applying regenerative agriculture

In Brazil, our Solo Verde project supports the transition towards more regenerative soil management practices by distributing cover crops to producers.

Our investments in regenerative agricultural practices helps food to be grown more sustainably while building a foundation for a healthier and more productive agricultural future.

The project is now aiming to triple its area and reach >3,000 hectares of coffee plantation.

Project

Adopting regenerative practices on coffee farms

In Brazil, the coffee growers we partner with have committed to regenagri®, an international regenerative agriculture programme. This way of farming improves soil fertility, stores atmospheric CO2, and improves water and energy management. 

The initiative aids in regenerating farmland and securing a sustainable future for agricultural products.

Project

Regenerative farming for Mexican cotton

2022-Present

In Mexico, we launched a regenerative cotton programme consisting of 46 growers, covering 14,000 hectares. The 2023/24 crop produced 27,000 bales of cotton and achieved the first ever regenerative agriculture certification in Mexico.

Building on this success, we are extending our investment and making biological crop protection and fertilisers available to producers, regardless of whether they are enrolled in the scheme, as part of our commitment to add value to growers.

Project

Evaluating biodiversity risks in Ecuador

In Ecuador, ECOM worked with Nature-based Insights (NbI) and Reckitt to carry out biodiversity screening of agricultural land, allowing us to evaluate land risk levels and provide key information to support sustainable cocoa production.

For each area, NbI extracts geospatial data from 16 individual data layers. The areas are then ranked according to risk level, enabling us to prioritise those best suited for farming and those to be conserved.

Project

Keeping bees for better coffee

2023

In Brazil, we initiated our SMS Bee Project in partnership with Nespresso and CarmoCoffees to encourage coffee farmers to become beekeepers, as bees play a crucial role in maintaining biodiversity and food security while enhancing coffee production. 

After training farmers, the project was implemented with five participating growers in the Cerrado and Minas Gerais in Brazil.

In 2023, we had 11 producers participating in the project, producing an average of 2,000 kilos of honey per year.

Project

Our 100 million trees commitment

2016-2025

In Guatemala, El Salvador and Mexico, ECOM and Starbucks launched the One Bag, One Tree programme. For every bag of coffee sold, a coffee plant was donated to support the renovation of producers’ coffee farms.

To date, more than 28.75 million plants have been delivered to coffee producers in Mexico, with around 4.1 million being supplied to 8,200 producers each year on average.

As a result of the initiative’s success, we now aim to provide no fewer than 100 million replacement trees by 2025.

Project

Weeding out problem plants

2023

In China, 36 coffee farmers in the Simao District received training in Integrated Weed Management, organised by Pu’er Tianchen Coffee Ltd and Rainforest Alliance. Participants learned the methodology of integrated weed management in coffee plantations, the relationship between weeds and soil fertility, and the impact of chemical herbicides on coffee garden ecology.

Project

Developing organic solutions for soil management

In Nicaragua, our SMS team developed two innovative products from by-products of coffee processing: SMS compost, which improves soil structure, and SMS Biol, which contains macro and micronutrients.

Currently, 200 tons of compost and 20,000 litres of Biol are produced every crop. SMS compost and SMS Biol are being registered for commercial use and we are looking to increase the production of compost to process 100% of coffee pulp produced.

Project

Collaborating for climate-resilient coffee

In our Nicaragua-based laboratory, Agritech, we work with CIRAD to create new coffee varieties better adapted to climate change. In tests, our new varieties have proved to be 30–50% more productive than conventional types.

The ECOM SMS team also manages a 3 million capacity nursery that uses pioneering technologies to develop climate-resilient plants. Our varieties produce average yields of 2-3 tonnes of green coffee per hectare.

Project

Regenerating cocoa farms

2023

In Nigeria, many cocoa trees are ageing and unproductive, with some farms filled with trees that are more than 50 years old.

To address this, ECOM has created a central nursery, where cocoa seedlings are planted and grown for distribution to farmers. In the first half of 2023, more than 100,000 hybrid cocoa seedlings were planted at the central nursery site and over 95,500 plants distributed.

A similar nursery in Mexico produced 500,000 cocoa plants and agroforestry trees annually.

Project

Converting waste into a 'carbon sponge'

In Brazil, ECOM and NetZero partnered to build a biochar factory. Biochar is a high-potential sustainable solution as it acts as a ‘carbon sponge’, increasing coffee productivity while reducing the use of synthetic fertilisers and storing carbon.

The factory will be able to produce >4,000 tons of biochar each year, enough to cover 1,200 hectares of farmland.

Project

Removing plastic from our nursery production

2019-2023

In Guatemala, through our partnership with Starbucks, we are working to replace typical polybags with paper-based BioPegon® pots in our seedling nursery to reduce plastic use.

From 2019 to 2023, the use of BioPegon pots has significantly increased, from just 1% to 66% in Guatemala. That represents more than 4.7 million trees, and the equivalent of fewer plastic bags. Over 34% of the total volume was produced through this technique in Guatemala, enabling us to completely move away from using polybags locally.

Project

Reducing water consumption for coffee harvests

2021-2023

In Colombia, we are collaborating with Starbucks on our Colombia Coffee Resource Positive project to rethink and discover innovative ways to manage water.

Water-efficient wet mills– which have zero waste water consumption– were implemented in 121 households in Huila, Valle del Cauca and Santander. This enabled us to reduce water consumption by 77% for the coffee-washing process at farm level.

Project

Assessing the impact of treated coffee wastewater

2019-2023

In the US, we maintained our partnership with Notre Dame University in Indiana to research two study lines:

1. Building of groundwater simulations of our wet mills to assess the impact of treated wastewater irrigation, and to apply methods to measure the potential impact on river water quality due to wastewater discharge.

2. Investigating new treatment strategies and wastewater modelling for small and artisanal-sized mills.

Project

Improving access to clean drinking water

2016-Present

In Burundi, through our Akawa Project, natural water sources were identified across the country, with the aim of protecting and sanitising them.

A countrywide topography study saw 36 water sources visited and assessed, based on their outflow, accessibility and current state. As a result, 20 water sources have been protected across nine hills and two washing stations, providing 1,175 households with clean, fresh water. There are more to come.

Project

Using leading first-mile technology to improve data capture

2023-Present

In Nigeria and Vietnam, ECOM has selected BanQu as our first-mile technology partner. Our goal is to continue ECOM’s sustainability journey with an enterprise traceability block-chain solution that provides auditable, real-time data and provides greater transparency and assurance throughout our multiple complex supply chains. 

We will continue to roll out the programme in more of our cocoa and coffee-producing origins in 2025.

Project

Climate-smart cotton production

2023

In the US, our project to help achieve traceable, climate-friendly cotton production was supported by a US$30 million grant from the USDA, and is being used to help promote the adoption of sustainable practices for cotton production by US farmers.

In 2023, the 36 farmers enrolled in the programme produced nearly 15,000 bales despite challenging drought conditions in West Texas. With the 2024 crop, we have increased the number of farmers enrolled to over 150, extending the programme to cotton farmers in Arkansas and Georgia.

Project

Knowledge sharing through social media

2023

In Mexico, ECOM’s Customer Care and Monitoring Centre (CASC) is a remote guidance tool that allows coffee farmers access technical assistance, information on sales of seeds and higher quality plants, market prices and training events, and more.

Over 1,200 growers now use the tool to improve their farming practices. In 2023, CASC recorded 62,177 social media interactions. It has also expanded to include a smart chat feature accessible via WhatsApp, which offers specialised information on coffee farming 24/7, 365 days a year.