Nestle brews new ways to grow PH coffee supply
Nestle Philippines is planting the seeds for a more productive local coffee industry, rooted in its belief that better-trained farmers and stronger post-harvest systems could eventually help close the country’s chronic bean shortage.
That Filipino farmers are unable to grow enough beans to satiate the country’s thirst for coffee remains a major challenge for Nestle, the country’s largest coffee manufacturer and one of the world’s biggest buyers of green coffee beans.
As it stands, only about a fifth of the company’s coffee supply — used for its flagship Nescafé products — is sourced locally, while the rest still comes from major producers such as Indonesia and Vietnam.
Nestle now wants to change that by strengthening its partnership with the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) to upskill smallholder farmers and raise local coffee production.
This expanded partnership will focus on technical training, post-harvest support, logistics and distribution systems, fertilizer access, and stronger coordination among government agencies, industry players and local communities.
It will include training on modern farming technologies and sustainable agricultural practices.
“Coffee starts with strong support from the farm all the way to your cup,” Tesda Director General Jose Benitez says. “Skills are the currency of the workplace, and we see that certified skills are front and center at every step of producing coffee.”
Nestle and Tesda had already partnered in 2021 on a joint training program for the production of Robusta coffee, the main ingredient in instant coffee. This targeted farming communities in Bukidnon and Sultan Kudarat, which account for about 80 percent of the country’s coffee output.
Yet the country’s coffee bean shortfall extends far beyond Nestle’s own supply chain concerns.
Overall, the Philippines can supply only around 40 percent of its domestic coffee requirements. Philippine Statistics Authority data showed local green coffee bean production reached 35,650 metric tons in 2025, up 11.5 percent from 31,980 metric tons a year earlier.
And while the country’s climate and soil are suitable for coffee farming, many Filipino growers still struggle to maximize yields and earnings because of limited access to training, equipment and value-added processing systems.
“Most Filipino coffee farmers sell their produce as fresh cherries or dried parchment, capturing minimal value,” a study by the Philippine Institute for Development Studies says. “In contrast, farmers who engage in value-added activities such as drying, hulling, and quality grading achieve significantly higher returns.”
Nestle thus sees its renewed partnership with Tesda as a way to address exactly that.
“Our partnership with Tesda allows us to contribute not only to the improvement of coffee farming practices but also to the long-term resilience of farming communities,” says Joey Uy III, senior vice president and head of corporate affairs at Nestle Philippines.
Over the past five years, Nestle has already trained more than 13,000 Filipino coffee farmers in regenerative agriculture practices such as intercropping, agroforestry, composting and soil management.
These interventions, it says, have helped raise yields from roughly 300 kilograms per hectare to as much as 900 kilograms to one metric ton, while some farms have reached yields of up to two tons.
Beyond coffee, Nestle and Tesda are also looking to partner on entrepreneurship training for sari-sari store owners, green technical-vocational education initiatives, e-learning through e-Tesda and community-based training programs with local government units.
All of these form part of Nestle’s Nescafé Plan 2030, under which it aims to source half of its coffee globally through regenerative agriculture methods and cut greenhouse gas emissions from coffee production by 50 percent.
