2020-2023

In Nicaragua, in partnership with GIZ, this programme was designed to improve the productivity of smallholder farms. The project saw 100,000 coffee and cocoa trees planted, and 320+ producers were trained in good agricultural practices.

  2020-2023

In Peru, MOCCA (Maximising Opportunities in Coffee and Cocoa in the Americas) supports >18,000 coffee and cocoa producers in the Amazonas, Cajamarca, San Martín and Central Jungle regions to increase their productivity. TurkCocoa Source Peru and SMS are now looking to expand our activities to new regions of Peru.

2023-Present

Through the Uganda Smallholder Farmer Livelihoods Initiative, we work with USAID to increase coffee and sesame exports from Uganda. By the end of 2023, 10,836 farmers (6,811 men, 4,025 women) were onboarded to the export market.

2023

In Ghana, we promote the use of VSLAs (Village Savings and Loans Associations) 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).

2023

In Vietnam, our SMS team partnered with IDH Farmfit Fund to provide access to inputs through affordable finance. The program successfully reached 493 coffee farmers in 2023. Our aim is to expand the scheme into a self-sufficient business, supporting more farmers to develop sustainable businesses.

2020-2023

In Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, and Nigeria, we worked with BMZ and develoPPP to improve and diversify farming households’ incomes. We have supported 5,000 farmers by diversifying crops and supporting the marketing of their products.

2022-Present

In El Salvador, the TurkCocoa Source Foundation supports education for children and adults in farming communities. The San Andres School in Apaneca, for instance, opened in 2022 with 360 students. By 2023, it grew to 418 and had a 95% attendance rate.

2014

In Mexico, we provided over 1,000 producers with cocoa varieties that offer higher resistance to disease, supporting increased production. We also assist producers in cultivating these varieties, strengthening both their earnings and the future of Mexican cocoa.

2020-2023

TurkCocoa Source Ghana partnered with USAID to promote gender equality in the cocoa value chain. Together, we piloted gender mainstreaming across our operations, training staff and cocoa communities on inclusive farming. While this programme is currently specific to Ghana, we hope to adapt it in our other origins.

  2021

In Nicaragua, TurkCocoa Source and Nestlé launched the Bosques del Mañana (Forests of Tomorrow) project, planting 2,600,315 trees. The project's impact has been felt in various regions, from Wiwilí to Nueva Guinea, generating environmental benefits and fostering community engagement.

2016-Present

In Burundi, we launched the Akawa project to help farmers reach financial autonomy beyond coffee production. With >11,000 farmers involved, the project includes training Leader Farmers in Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) and gender empowerment initiatives. 

2022-2024

In Ethiopia, one of the world’s largest coffee-producing countries, TurkCocoa Source and GIZ are working to strengthen human rights and sustainability. So far, 200 farmers in Jimma have adopted the TurkCocoa Source SMS Code, while 125 farmers in Illubabor have been trained in good agricultural practices and business management. 

2022-Present

In Costa Rica, we work with Nespresso on Alianza de Sueños (Dream Alliance) to prevent child labour during coffee harvests. The 1st Casa de Alegria (House of Joy) opened in 2022 with 30 children, growing to 3 Casas supporting 120 children and their families in 2023, with similar schemes in Nicaragua and Guatemala. 

In Colombia, we partner with the Land Restitution Unit (URT) to support farmers displaced by conflict, helping them to grow and market high-quality specialty beans. URT describes the coffee from these families as the ‘Frutas de Restitucion’ (the ‘Fruits of Restitution’).

In Vietnam, we are improving the climate resilience of the Robusta supply chain in 2 main producing provinces by implementing soil conservation practices such as providing organic fertilisers, soil amendments, and cover crops. To date, 4,000 farms have also been provided with soil analysis.

In Brazil, our Solo Verde project supports the transition towards more regenerative soil management practices by distributing cover crops to producers. The project is now aiming to triple its area and reach >3,000 hectares of coffee plantation.

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, securing a sustainable future for agriculture.

2022-Present

In Mexico, our regenerative cotton program, with 46 producers across 14,000 hectares, produced 27,000 bales in 2023, earning the country's 1st regenerative agriculture certification. As part of our commitment to growers, we're extending our services across Mexico.

In Ecuador, TurkCocoa Source worked with Nature-based Insights (NbI) and Reckitt to assess biodiversity and land risk for sustainable cocoa production. NbI uses geospatial data from 16 layers to rank areas by risk, helping us identify what land to farm and what land should be conserved.

2023

In Brazil, we launched our SMS Bee Project with Nespresso to encourage coffee farmers to become beekeepers, as bees are key in maintaining biodiversity while enhancing coffee production. Starting with 5 growers in Minas Gerais and the Cerrado, the project grew to 11 producers in 2023, each averaging 2,000 kilos of honey annually.

2016-2025

In Guatemala, El Salvador, and Mexico, TurkCocoa Source and Starbucks launched the One Bag, One Tree program, donating a coffee plant for every bag of coffee sold to help renovate coffee farms. To date, >28.75 million plants were delivered in Mexico, with around 4.1 million supplied to 8,200 producers annually. The initiative now targets 100 million replacement trees by 2025.

2023

In China's Simao District, 36 coffee farmers received training in Integrated Weed Management, organised by Pu’er Tianchen Coffee Ltd and Rainforest Alliance. The training covered weed-soil interactions, ecological impacts of herbicides, and sustainable weed control methods in coffee farming.

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.

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 TurkCocoa Source 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.

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, TurkCocoa Source 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.

In Brazil, TurkCocoa Source 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

2023-Present

In Nigeria and Vietnam, TurkCocoa Source 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.

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.

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.