Kilimanjaro Trust Coffee Partnership

The project is located in the Kilimanjaro Region of Tanzania, a key origin of sustainable coffee to the Dutch food & beverage sector, particularly trade, roasting and retail companies approaching conscious consumers. The Dutch partners depend on transparent and traceable coffee suppliers that can secure stable volumes of consistent quality coffee beans to cover the growing demand for responsible products, as well as to support compliance with new European Union Due Diligence Regulations (EUDR) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Due Diligence regulations.

Effective Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) management "from farm to shelf" benefits and reduces the main risks for the coffee sector. A joint CSR Risk Analysis in the Coffee Supply Chain from Kilimanjaro to the Netherlands shows that the main risks are at the production sites, being associated to financial, reputational, supply and labour risks at origin where most of the environmental and social challenges concentrate. The Dutch players must cope specially with transparency, regulation and procurement issues that affect their reputation, access to market and productivity which are highly influenced by the good or bad CSR practices applied in the first levels of the supply chain. The supply chain of coffee beans typically contains seven levels:

1. Growing & harvesting;
2. Processing (hulling, drying & bulking);
3. Shipping;
4. Blending;
5. Roasting;
6. Packing; and
7. Selling to end-customers.

Kilimanjaro Trust Coffee Partnership is a ground-breaking collaboration between five leading coffee companies in the Netherlands and one in Tanzania, aimed at revolutionising the coffee sector. Supported by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy and the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO), the initiative focuses on enhancing sustainability and transparency in the coffee value chain, aligning with OECD guidelines.

This comprehensive model for CSR risk management, benchmarking, and capacity building emphasises transparency, traceability, and trust using blockchain and information technologies. The project is being implemented by leading coffee companies in the Netherlands and Tanzania, working closely with local cooperatives to mitigate risks. Serving as a demonstration case for EUDR compliance, the initiative sets a benchmark for the coffee sector.

From 2023 to 2026, the Partnership will deploy the model with local cooperatives in two farms at the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro-Tanzania, to be scale-up to five further coffee states in the region (1,323 ha total) and serve as demonstration case for CSR management and EUDR compliance for the coffee sector and other African countries. The impact is a stronger value chain from Tanzania to the Netherlands, improved living conditions, formal and stable rural work, restored ecosystems, and increased incomes for six Rural Cooperatives and over 3,900 associated families.