Leading F&B supplier ofi has released its 2023 impact report for Coffee LENS (Livelihoods, Empowerment, Nature at Scale), highlighting advancements in farmer livelihoods, coffee community development and 2030 climate action targets across several countries in the Americas and West Africa.

Food Ingredients First sits down with Jeremy Dufour, head of Sustainability Execution, Coffee at ofi, to discuss the report’s findings and the “perennial challenges” posed by climate change, inflationary pressures driving up food production costs and economic hardship. These, he underscores, are making it increasingly difficult for coffee farmers to afford a decent standard of living. 

Amid multifaceted challenges, the company aims to respond to smallholders’ needs with “customized programs, training and material benefits that help increase their yields, quality and incomes.”

Social capital impact evaluation in Honduras

Key programs include the implementation of ofi’s first social capital impact valuation to assess the value of customized support delivered to approximately 1,000 coffee farmers as part of a living income project in Honduras with partner Aldi South Group.

“It was identified that the scale at which the Living Income gap would close would differ considering farmers’ typology and the type of interventions provided. Therefore, ofi’s team conducted a farmer segmentation exercise, covering around 400 farms, which categorized farmers into four clear groups based on differing socio-economic characteristics,” explains Dufour.