by Sarah Hills FoodBizdaily.com London
November 17 2009 - A new partnership between Nestlé and the Indonesian Coffee & Cocoa Research Institute has been agreed to produce the Robusta coffee plant with better yield and more resistance to drought and disease.
The cooperation agreement between Nestlé Research & Development in Tours, France, and the ICCRI, based in East Java, is to develop high quality Indonesian Robusta Coffee plantlets.
Tours is Nestlé’s centre of excellence for innovation in strategically important plant raw materials, in particular coffee, cocoa and chicory. Its focus is on increasing quality and the sustainability of supply.
The cooperation started in 1994 but this latest agreement expects to improve yield and drought/disease resistance whilst preserving the originality of Indonesian coffee.
Nestlé said in a statement that R&D Tours and ICCRI will undertake the genetic mapping of Indonesian Robusta Coffee to ensure the quality of coffee plants that have been developed from the earlier cooperation.
Debora Tjandrakusuma, legal and corporate affairs director of PT Nestlé Indonesia, said: “What we are doing today is part of our business strategy to create shared value along our value chains.
“We believe that our long term success is dependent on our ability to create value along our value chain, be it our shareholders, employees, consumers, society and our stakeholders.”
Nestlé R&D Tours had already granted the SE (Somatic Embryogenesis) technology to ICCRI to propagate coffee and cacao plantlets in large quantity in a shorter period of time.
These have been planted across ten provinces in Indonesia to revitalise cocoa plantations, which Nestle claims helps the competitiveness of Indonesian farmers on the International markets.
Tjandrakusuma added “We are pleased that with the SE technology granted from Nestlé, based on the partnership between Nestlé and ICCRI since 1994, ICCRI has supported the government in developing original Indonesian coffee and cocoa plantlets with better yield and resistant to disease in a shorter time.”
Nestlé Indonesia, a subsidiary of Nestlé SA, has three factories in Indonesia producing milk, foods and beverages products under its brands, including Kit Kat and Nescafe.
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About Nestle SA
Nestle SA is a company engaged in the nutrition, health and wellness sectors. It is the holding company of the Nestle Group, which comprises subsidiaries, associated companies and joint ventures throughout the world. It has such business units as Food and Beverage, Nestle Waters and Nestle Nutrition. It is also active in the pharmaceutical sector. It divides its products into nine categories: Prepared dishes and cooking aids, Beverages, Confectionery, Ice cream, Water, PetCare, Milk products, Nutrition and Pharma. It has numerous subsidiaries engaged in various areas of activity, including Alcon Ophthalmika GmbH (Austria), Alcon Bulgaria EOOD (Bulgaria) and Galderma Laboratorium GmbH (Germany) for pharmaceuticals; Novartis Nutrition GmbH (Austria) and Hjem-IS A/S (Denmark) for food and beverages, and Galderma International SAS (France) and Galderma Laboratorium GmbH (Germany) for health and beauty activities. In July 2008, Novartis AG acquired a 25% stake in Alcon, Inc. from Nestle SA.