Dutch coffee and tea giant, JDE Peet’s announced its commitment to support economic development in northern Central America. They join fellow coffee company Nespresso who announced their support earlier this year.
The initiative is sponsored by United States Vice President Kamala Harris and comprises one out of seven other commitments announced. The company will increase financial support for smallholder farmers through sustainability programs that focus on the key issues farmers from the region face, and which is contributing to migration concerns that we reported on last week. In a statement posted on the white house’s website, the company stated:
JDE Peet’s will allocate a total of $2.7m over the next four years, to expand the reach of its Common Grounds Program in the region.
These seven commitments were announced as part of the Call-to-Action launched on the 27th of May, which urges businesses and social enterprises to make significant commitments to promote economic opportunities through sustainably addressing the main causes of migration. More than US$1.2 billion have been invested by businesses and social enterprises.
As part of its Common Grounds program, JDE Peet’s will increase its financial support for smallholder farmers in the area by 40%. To provide for the support, the company will also implement a new series of sustainability programs throughout the Central American coffee belt. The support will be in the form of technical expertise that is aimed to improve productivity, adapt to climate change, diversify incomes and improve market and credit access.
The Coffee Alliance is a public-private partnership among USAID, JDE Peet’s, CoHonducafe (Honduras’ largest coffee exporter), the CoHonducafe Foundation, and Grupo Cadelga (Honduras’ largest agricultural input supplier).
Whitehouse briefing statement
JDE Peet’s contribution will allow the Coffee Alliance of Excellence to double its reach in terms of active footprint in the region, with a total of 10,000 additional smallholder coffee-farming households.
Following this announcement — which was through a virtual event co-hosted by the State Department and the US Chamber of Commerce in collaboration with the Partnership for Central America, the Vice President encouraged more businesses to respond to the Call to Action.
