Pioneer Insurance, in partnership with Nestlé Philippines, has provided crop insurance to coffee farmers from the Tinalon Farmers Association, United Highlander Farmers Producers Cooperative, and the Rural Improvement Club-Kuden in Sultan Kudarat. The insurance coverage equips them with a lifeline as they face production risks and climate-related uncertainties.

The insurance initiative is the latest under Project Coffee+, the current banner component of Nestlé’s Nescafé Plan, a long-term program involving the public and private sectors to help smallholder coffee farmers enhance yields, incomes, and quality of life sustainably.

“This isn’t just about policies on paper,” said Geric Laude, Pioneer Insurance’s Head of Agriculture and Partnerships Department. “We met with the farmers, listened to their needs, and made protection more accessible where it matters most: on the ground.”

Project Coffee+ is an intensive, multi-year effort enabling participating farmers to become agripreneurs, empowered with effective farming knowledge and practices along with basic business skills.

The results, substantial increases in harvests and earnings, led to the launch of Project Coffee++, with a focus on helping to raise a younger generation of coffee farmers in Mindanao, where 80 percent of the country’s coffee is grown in Sultan Kudarat and Bukidnon.

The local coffee subsector faces major challenges, with declining output supplying just 15 percent of domestic demand filled by imports. Thus, crop insurance for coffee farmers is a significant step in strengthening their capabilities and the subsector.

Sharing a commitment to sustainable agriculture and inclusive growth, Pioneer’s Agriculture Team first engaged with Nestle in mid-2024 to connect with farmer communities and introduce the concept of crop insurance.

Field visits and direct dialogue played a vital role in identifying how insurance could support the farmers’ long-term goals under the regenerative agriculture or RA approach, which protects agricultural resources for future productivity, factoring in climate change.

How Pioneer plants hope through agriculture insurance

Pioneer has for years pioneered inclusive insurance solutions for the underserved. Through CARD Pioneer Microinsurance Inc., it launched BINHI Crop Insurance in 2017, the country’s first and only micro-agricultural insurance product.

With support from the Asian Development Bank, Pioneer and CARD Pioneer made history in 2022 by launching the Philippines’ first public–private crop insurance partnership with the Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation.

In January 2024, Pioneer formed its Agriculture Team to further close the protection gap in the agriculture industry. It has since launched insurance products for grain (rice and corn); high-value crops, including coffee, cacao, mango, sugarcane, among others; and livestock, protecting farmers from risks posed by climate change due to global warming.

This latest effort with Nestlé builds on Pioneer’s momentum, showing that insurance, made relevant and community-driven, can be a tool for real transformation.

Pioneer’s Agriculture Team is proud to share more information about its efforts in uplifting Filipino farmers via Mayne Ramzelle Tamano at [email protected] or Christopher John Tingzon at [email protected].