Yunnan coffee "gentle fire" boils small grains of coffee

More than 20 years ago, China hardly produced small seeds of coffee beans. Nowadays, every year during the coffee harvest, buyers from all over the country will gather in Yunnan to snap up high-quality small-seed coffee here. The local coffee planting area and output have accounted for 98% of the country's total; the Simao area of Yunnan has become the procurement base for Nestl é (China) Company's global small-grain coffee beans.

In mid-March, when the red coffee fruit was full of branches, the reporter came to Simao, Yunnan, to visit the formation of this "mellow fragrance".

The most important thing is patience.

In 1988, when Nestl é set up a joint venture in China, it found that China produced almost no coffee beans. Nestle's consistent principle is that as long as conditions permit, it will achieve the localization of raw materials, transportation, production, management, sales and other entire supply chain in each country.

After a painstaking investigation, Bao de, a technical expert of the company, found that the altitude and climate of Yunnan have the conditions for growing small-grain coffee. So he climbed over the mountains, visited a large area of mountainous areas and woodlands in Yunnan, and finally found the most suitable area for growing coffee.

However, it is not easy to persuade farmers in this region, which is dominated by ethnic minorities and whose average education is only 1.7 years, to pull out bananas and corn planted for generations and plant coffee trees that can grow cherry-like red fruits for three years.

Since 1988, Nestl é has decided to support the development of the local coffee industry in Yunnan, taking the lead in opening up a regional planting project. Since 1992, Nestl é has set up the Ministry of Coffee Agriculture to specifically guide and study the improvement and cultivation of coffee in Yunnan. That year, Nestl é also signed a 14-year agreement with the local government, in which it promised to buy coffee at the price of the spot market in the United States, uncapped as a guarantee of farmers' interests, and set a minimum purchase price. At the same time, Nestl é provides loans for technicians, seedlings and even interest-free farm tools, and promises not to own land or fixed assets.

Wang Zhongxue, a farmer in Dakaihe Village in Pu'er, like many of his neighbors, was skeptical about growing coffee to make money. Yang Dimai, then the foreign manager of Nestle Coffee Agriculture Department, repeatedly invited him to visit Nestl é Farm. On the farm, Wang Zhongxue saw how the technicians here sowed, fertilized, and irrigated, and learned that planting shade trees for shady coffee trees would ensure their smooth growth, and learn the best drying and processing methods to make the coffee beans at their best. This trip gave Wang Zhongxue a bottom in his heart, and after he learned that he had planted qualified fruit, Nestl é would give a reasonable purchase price and try to plant a few mu when he got home.

Three years later, the coffee tree produced the first round of red fruit. Wang Zhongxue first tasted the joy, and then he increased the planting area of the coffee tree year by year. By this year, Wang Zhongxue's coffee planting area has reached 68 mu. Dakaihe Village, where Wang is located, is now a famous local "coffee village".

In 2003, Nespresso, the top high-end Nestl é coffee brand, adopted Pu'er coffee beans for the first time. The high-end brand selects only one of its more than 80 planting bases around the world every year and uses its raw materials to make limited edition coffee for expert evaluation. This year, not only the industry realized the charm of Yunnan coffee for the first time, but also mentioned the word "Yunnan coffee" for the first time in the futures exchange of the United States.

Let farmers get the greatest benefit

On March 11, the reporter walked into the home of local farmer Kui Wenyong.

Talking about last year's income, Xiao Wenyong told the reporter with a smile that the family planted 40 mu of coffee land, and the net profit was about 150000 yuan a year. "at the end of last year, the price of coffee beans rose to more than 30 yuan per kilogram, and it is still rising this year. It is estimated that the profit per mu can be increased by another 1000 yuan," he says. his family began to give up growing bananas in 1997 and switched to growing coffee. in recent years, its price has continued to rise from the initial 6-10 yuan / kg to the current high.

It is understood that there are more than 80 families in the village where Luo Wenyong lives, each of which grows coffee as much as he does.

In the past, Nestl é's coffee business in Yunnan was mostly approached by larger coffee suppliers, growers, state-owned companies and so on.

During his tenure, Yang Dimai insisted on moving Nestl é offices from Kunming to Pu'er in order to directly buy coffee beans from local small farmers. On the one hand, he witnessed that small farmers in mountain villages in Yunnan with less than 20 mu of land had nowhere to sell coffee and could only rely on unscrupulous middlemen, who cheated prices and made exorbitant profits, which hindered Nestle's efforts to expand coffee planting area in Pu'er; at the same time, directly establishing a strong trading relationship with farmers can not only control and improve their planting quality, but also eliminate the profits of middlemen. Nestle believes that this is a win-win situation.

Today, Nestl é does not rely too much on local farms or large middlemen, but puts the money directly into the hands of farmers. In 2009, 98% of Nestl é's suppliers in Pu'er were coffee growers rather than coffee middlemen, 80% of whom were small farmers with land below 50 mu. Nestl é hopes this model will continue to expand.

After nearly 20 years in Yunnan, Nestl é set up a coffee agriculture service department, set up an experimental demonstration farm covering an area of 64 hectares, and trained thousands of local farmers and agro-technicians to teach them planting techniques. and teach these technologies to farmers free of charge. "Why don't my coffee seedlings always grow up?" and "in the same way, why don't my coffee beans grow full?" Agronomists from Nestl é headquarters have been stationed in Yunnan for a long time to teach farmers coffee planting techniques. For local farmers, agricultural experts such as Nestl é are like family members.

Although Nestl é drew up a minimum purchase price contract with farmers at that time, there is no need for any contract restrictions, and farmers will send their coffee beans to Nestl é.

A good story about the sermons of five "Mr. Coffee"

Yunnan farmers have become rich by growing coffee, and their relationship with Nestl é continues to this day, but for Nestl é, a large multinational company, local farmers are most familiar with not a glamorous figure such as the president, but five foreign managers of the coffee agriculture department.

The current manager of coffee agriculture is Hute, a Belgian.

During a visit to the countryside, he found that small farmers in remote areas knew nothing about coffee prices. "I saw the farmers squatting in the fields crying because the hard-growing coffee was sold at a very low price."

"the picture lingered in my mind," Huth recalled. " Since then, he began to go more deep into remote villages and fields, handing out "Nestl é business cards" with the Coffee Agricultural Service phone number.

What makes Huth feel happiest is in the coffee harvest season. "in addition to helping farmers improve their planting skills, I buy coffee beans every year on behalf of Nestl é during the coffee harvest season," he said. "now that the price of coffee is high and the total capital for acquisition has increased, the money can go to farmers."

According to reports, five foreigners are the same foreign manager of the Coffee Agriculture Department. The first Mr. Baud was mainly responsible for finding suitable areas for growing coffee and developing sowing methods. The second Mr. Fessler began to promote the cultivation of coffee. The third term, Wang Daofu, focused on training technicians. The fourth Yang Deman, the father of Hute, was the direct promoter of Nestl é's coffee acquisition model of "small-scale farmers' cooperation" in Yunnan.

Hute told reporters that both his father and he believed that the more farmers knew, the less likely they were to be seduced and deceived by the outside world. And the more stable our relationship will be. Therefore, now farmers in Yunnan have learned to inquire about the futures trading of recent coffee on the Internet and decide when to sell their coffee beans.

Hute said that farmers are very smart, and many people with higher yields will not sell them all at once, but in batches, because today's transaction price makes him satisfied, and maybe tomorrow's price will make him happier.

Source: Hubei Daily reporter: Xiong Xing correspondent: Xu Ping