Our Impact
Discover the positive impact your purchases have on communities and the environment.
Read about how we are working with partners to support farmer livelihoods, promote equality and improve environmental standards.
CLEAN DRINKING WATER FOR PEPPER COMMUNITIES IN VIETNAM
ofi's black pepper estate in the heart of the Chu Puh District in the Gia Lai Province of Vietnam is located in a very rural area where clean drinking water is scarce.
Read moreGROWING BLACK PEPPER WITH LESS WATER IN LA BREL VILLAGE, VIETNAM
ofi has established a world-class black pepper estate in the heart of the Chu Puh District in the Gia Lai Province of Vietnam. This is a very rural area where water scarcity is a serious challenge, especially during the summer.
Read moreWOMEN COCOA FARMERS SUPPLY OFI WITH FOREST TREE SEEDLINGS IN CÔTE D’IVOIRE
Tai Simonne, 53, is responsible for the Women's Association in Zaipobly, in the SouthWest of Côte d'Ivoire.
Read moreIMPROVING YIELDS AND DIVERSIFYING INCOME FOR COCOA SMALLHOLDERS IN GHANA
Over the past year, ofi have continued to support cocoa farming communities in Ghana to protect and restore forests. Over 500,000 multi-purpose trees have been distributed to farmers, so they can be used to create agroforestry systems that restore land by planting fruit and shade trees alongside cocoa crops. This not only reintroduces tree cover, but also helps improve cocoa yields for farmers by providing sun protection for the crop and an additional source of income.
Read moreIMPROVING CASHEW YIELDS AND INCOME
Through training on cashew production, Ivorian farmers in the Sustainable Cashew Growers Programmme (SCGP) have improved yields from an average of 509 Kg/Ha in 2015 to 620kg/ha in 2018
Read moreRE-IMAGINING GLOBAL AGRICULTURE TO TACKLE CLIMATE CHANGE AND SAVE ENERGY
Re-imagining global agriculture requires a wider focus than crops and farming techniques. Our Strategic Energy Management Plan (SEMP) has led to powerful initiatives that tackle climate change and are saving energy across our global operations.
Read moreSIX YEARS OF DATA PROVIDES INSIGHTS ON HOW YIELDS INCREASED ALONG THE COFFEE ROUTE
In the Santa Bárbara region in Honduras, the AtSource+ farmers are members of the community that is part of the so-called coffee route. It belongs to the regions that produce the best coffee in the country. The region is characterized by having fertile and nutrient-rich soils. Since coffee is grown at higher altitudes and lower temperatures, it produces a slower maturing fruit and a denser bean.
Read morePUTTING HEALTH AT THE HEART OF COFFEE COMMUNITIES
In the coffee-growing region of Ayarza, Guatemala, access to basic health services is limited. Often smallholder farmers and their families must walk several kilometers to the nearest public health center. To tackle this problem, olam food ingredients (“ofi”) opened a fully equipped health clinic at the entrance of the community’s coffee cherry mill, putting health services on the doorstep of 5,000 people.
Read morePRODUCING A QUALITY CUP WITH A LOWER WATER FOOTPRINT
The dramatic blue crater of the Laguna de Ayarza is the defining feature of the Ayarza region in eastern Guatemala. The surrounding rich, volcanic soils provide perfect ground for producing exceptional coffees and support the livelihoods of local farmers, but a 6-month dry season leaves limited water available for processing.
Read moreCUTTING RICE'S CARBON FOOTPRINT
Rice is a staple food for much of the world’s population and production will need to nearly double by 2050 to meet demand. But it is also one of the most polluting crops, responsible for 10% of all global man-made methane emissions - a greenhouse gas 84x more potent than carbon dioxide - from the vegetation that naturally rots in flooded paddy fields.
Read moreROOTING OUT SEEDS OF CHILD LABOUR WITH ‘COFFEE KINDERGARTENS’
Olam Coffee has launched ‘Coffee Kindergartens’ in four coffee communities in Guatemala providing safe spaces for children to play, learn and not work during the peak harvest period.
Read moreTesting Automated Email Notifications for Impact Stories - AtS_2106
Good eyesight is critical to many components of a person’s daily life, but often in developing countries, limited access to eye care leaves many unable to learn, earn, and be included in society.
Read moreREVITALISING LIVELIHOODS, LANDSCAPES AND SOME OF THE WORLD’S RAREST COFFEES
In the rich volcanic soils that line the shores of Lake Kivu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, grow some of the world’s most exclusive arabica beans.
Read moreBLENDING COFFEE WITH AGROFORESTRY FOR PROSPEROUS FARMERS AND LIVING LANDSCAPES
On a tropical mountainside of the Frailesca region in Mexico, farmers are planting new coffee saplings and forest trees.
Read moreAGROFORESTRY IN THE AMAZON: INCENTIVISING COCOA FARMERS TO PROTECT AND RESTORE FOREST
ofi cocoa business is working in partnership with The Nature Conservancy, Mondelēz International, Partnerships for Forests and Instituto Humanize, to halt deforestation and restore degraded land in the Brazilian state of Pará, which has the country’s highest rate of deforestation.
Read moreBETTER WITH BEES: MAKING MORE CASH FROM CASHEW
Beekeeping has an important role in generating and expanding the income of small-scale cashew farmers. Hives are placed in the orchards in return for bee pollination services, not only boosting cashew nut yields, but the farmer’s income also benefits from the sale of honey and wax.
Read moreRESTORING VISION TO COFFEE FARMERS
Good eyesight is critical to many components of a person’s daily life, but often in developing countries, limited access to eye care leaves many unable to learn, earn, and be included in society.
Read moreBRINGING WATER SECURITY TO COFFEE COMMUNITIES
In the coffee growing region of Matas de Minas in Brazil, Olam has been working to improve sanitation and access to safe drinking water.
Read moreCULTIVATING GREATER SOCIAL AWARENESS IN COFFEE GROWERS
During the harvest season of 2017, children under the age of 16 were discovered picking coffee on many farms in Jaén Province of Peru.
Read moreCIRCULAR COFFEE CULTIVATION FROM FARM TO CUP
Our first sustainability program to qualify for Infinity status in 2019 was a circular coffee economy model that would deliver a triple positive impact in the coffee value chain; improving economic opportunity and environmental conservation from producers and communities in Peru, to consumers in the Netherlands.
Read moreINCENTIVISING COCOA FARMERS TO PROTECT AND RESTORE FOREST
Olam Cocoa’s first Infinity status project in Ghana uses long-term, community-based solutions to tackle deforestation. A model providing economic incentives to local farmers and communities delivers a triple positive impact by protecting and restoring the local landscape, improving agricultural practices and boosting economic opportunities for local farmers.
Read morePAIRING COFFEE WITH LEMONGRASS FOR HEALTHIER PLANTS AND PEOPLE
The rich mix of volcanic soil of the Isale region in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and plentiful moisture fed through from the Great Lakes, provides fertile ground for happy, healthy coffee trees.
Read moreBLENDING COFFEE WITH AGROFORESTRY FOR SUSTAINABLE LANDSCAPES
On the tropical mountainside of Monte Sinai in Mexico, farmers are planting new coffee saplings and forest trees.
Read moreINVESTING IN COFFEE ENTREPRENEURS
Like his parents before him, Diofanor has always worked as a coffee farmer. Everything he knew about coffee – from sowing to post-harvest - he learned from the traditional methods of farming passed down to him.
Read moreABSORBING THE IMPACT OF COFFEE WASTEWATER
The waste water generated from the wet-milling process – when the bean is separated from the coffee fruit - is rich in organic matter, but is often discharged into local water sources, many of which are used for drinking water.
Read moreEMPOWERING WOMEN FARMERS FOR A STRONGER COFFEE CHAIN
“With the Flor do Café project I learned about coffee quality and by that I added value to my product, through selective harvesting, the right use of products at the right time to control pests and diseases within safety standards.
Read moreCREATING A BUZZ FOR CASHEW FARMERS
With only two harvests a year, the off-season is a typically lean period for the 5,000 Ghanaian households who depend on cashew as their sole means of income.
Read moreCOMBATTING PNEUMONIA IN CASHEW COMMUNITIES
Pneumonia is a leading cause of childhood mortality in Sub-Saharan Africa and along with other preventable diseases, not only affects individual health but families’ livelihoods, and broader agricultural development.
Read moreTHE COMMON GROUND BETWEEN COFFEE AND CHICKENS
There’s a surprising link between these coffee bushes on Olam’s Milano plantation in Brazil, and the chickens from a local farm. They have both grown up on a bed of coffee husks.
Read moreHOW FARMER FIELD SCHOOLS ARE BREWING SUSTAINABLE COFFEE
For farmers in the Quindío region of Colombia, a coffee education is proving a popular way of boosting livelihoods.
Read moreAN OUTSTANDING CUPPA FROM POST-HARVEST TRAINING
At the Bynekere Estate in Karnataka, India, coffee farmers are reaping higher quality beans – with the corresponding income potential from it - by simply reducing post-harvest mistakes.
Read moreCRACKING FEMALE EMPOWERMENT IN THE HAZELNUT HARVEST
ofi’s Women on the Roads for Hazelnuts program works with female seasonal migrant workers in the four main sourcing regions to provide training on labor rights, gender equality, first aid and basic healthcare.
Read morePROMOTING CLIMATE-RESILIENT AGRICULTURE THROUGH THE STEPWISE APPROACH
While improved yields, income and livelihoods for rural farmers are directly linked to Good Agricultural Practice training amongst other things, on the other hand, these extended training periods are proving to be a huge sacrifice on the farmers financially and time spent away from their farms.
Read moreA BONUS FOR FARMERS: BREAKING THE POVERTY CYCLE
50-year-old Antonio Benedito Sucamela is a typical cashew farmer from the Mogovala District in the Nampula Province of Mozambique and one of 51 beneficiaries in his farmer group of the Olam Cashew Farmer Bonus Scheme.
Read moreNO TEARS FOR ONION FARMERS AS YIELDS INCREASE BY 20%
“I’ve been farming for 20 years in Egypt and working with Olam for the past two seasons. During this period, myself and fellow farmers have been able to reduce water consumption, better control fungal diseases, increase our yield and drastically reduce waste during harvest which helped increase our overall productivity." Mohamed Ali, onion farmer, Western Desert, Egypt.
Read moreSTIMULATING NEW GROWTH FOR CASHEW FARMERS
The start to a new year can mean new resolutions, new ventures, or time for a change. For cashew farmers in Mozambique, it marks fresh hopes for the beginning of a new crop season.
Read moreA CUT ABOVE THE REST: PRUNING FOR PRODUCTIVITY
For the novice gardener amongst us, the subject of pruning can bring a sense of dread – we’ve heard from all the experts that we’ll get more flower power as a result, yet can’t bring ourselves to take that all-important first snip, for fear of cutting off ‘the wrong bit’.
Read moreCASHEW CREATIONS FOR WOMEN'S EMPOWERMENT IN MOZAMBIQUE
Alima Assane Mupeue works at Olam’s cashew processing factory in Monapo as a supervisor in the Peeling Section. She’s a mother of 8 and balances her work at the factory with managing her household.
Read morePROVIDING SAFE SPACES FOR CHILDREN DURING THE HAZELNUT HARVEST
Going to school during the summer holidays wouldn’t be most children’s idea of fun, but for 13 year-old Nurcan Sekiz, it means a safe space to play and not work.
Read moreIMPROVING HAZELNUT QUALITY, IN A NUTSHELL
Outside of the harvest period, a typical hazelnut grower in the Black Sea region of Turkey will cultivate small plots of land by themselves, sometimes with the help of family members.
Read moreIMPROVING THE NUTRITION OF CASHEW FARMING FAMILIES
Malnutrition is a major problem for cashew farming communities in Côte d’Ivoire. Across the country, around one in five children under the age of five are stunted; a serious condition caused by chronic malnutrition that prevents children from reaching their physical and cognitive potential. In July 2020, Olam took part in a massive public health drive, reaching hundreds of thousands of children with nutritional support.
Read moreTHE PRUNING PRACTICES THAT HELP CREATE THE PERFECT CUP
The pruning practices that Angélica demonstrates on her 14-hectare coffee farm in Copán, Honduras, have helped her coffee yields grow by 70% over the last two years.
Read moreCOFFEE FARMERS NAVIGATE PRICE VOLATILITY WITH DURIAN AND PASSION FRUIT
In the central province of Daklak in Vietnam, coffee farmers have boosted their economic prospects by securing additional sources of income.
Read moreREVITALISING COFFEE PRODUCTION IN CÔTE D’IVOIRE
In Côte d’Ivoire, our extension officers started working with 13,000 farmers through 40 cooperatives to provide high-yielding, climate-resilient coffee seedlings from dedicated nurseries.
Read moreSOWING SEEDS OF SUSTAINABILITY – CREATING THE MOST EFFICIENT ONION IN THE WORLD
As a highly water-intensive crop, onions require large quantities for irrigation in the field, which in drought-prone regions in particular, like California, is far from sustainable.
Read moreSAFER COFFEE FARMERS, MORE SECURE LIVELIHOODS
Farmers in Vietnam’s Dak Lak province have a whole new mindset to approaching safety at work, since Olam implemented a sustainability programme there in 2016. To date, since the programme began, there have been zero reported accidents or incidents resulting from farm practices.
Read moreA HEALTHY FOOD SYSTEM STARTS WITH HEALTHY FARMERS
49 year-old Ashraf Ibrahim, a truck driver on an onion farm, receives a blood sugar test at an Olam Spices healthcare facility in Egypt.
Read moreCLOSING THE NUTRIENT LOOP
Old coffee trees have been given a second life through repurposing them as compost to grow new ones. As part of a rejuvenation project on two plots of Olam’s Milano plantation in Brazil, the removed trees are pulverised and then returned back to the field to feed newly planted bushes; coming full circle.
Read moreWAKING UP TO BETTER WORKING CONDITIONS IN THE COFFEE VALUE CHAIN
These women are carrying out the meticulous process of hand-sorting the washed coffee beans - the final step in the coffee cleaning and sorting process - before they are graded.
Read moreCULTIVATING ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS IN SCHOOL CHILDREN
These schoolchildren from the rural community of Cartinha in Brazil, have just enjoyed a picnic lunch by the Rio de Onda on the Milano coffee plantation, where they’ve just been learning about the importance of water conservation from Olam’s agronomists.
Read moreINVESTING IN THE COMMUNITIES BEHIND OUR COFFEE BEANS
7 year-old Anthony Josuel Rivera Inestroza, a student at Juan Lindo Primary School in San Manuel, Honduras poses for a photo on his new playground. What was previously a disused shelter with a mud floor, has been reconstructed to provide the children with a purpose-built space for sport and recreation.
Read moreINSPIRING THE NEXT GENERATION OF COFFEE FARMERS
There is no doubt that the coffee industry is growing constantly, but an unsavoury brew of climate change and low prices is putting off the younger generation from coffee farming.
Read morePROTECTING COFFEE ECOSYSTEMS FOR A GREENER BREW
Coffee farmer Emiliano Carrasco Vera, proudly shows off his healthy crop, which is thriving in the shade of the forest canopy. Over the last two years, he has planted 200 native and nitrogen-fixing leguminous tree species, including Inga – known commonly as ice-cream bean tree, Erytrina and Cedrela, amongst the coffee bushes on his farm.
Read moreA BETTER CUPPA FROM POST-HARVEST TRAINING
At the Bynekere Estate in Karnataka, India, coffee farmers are reaping higher quality beans – with the corresponding income potential from it - by simply reducing post-harvest mistakes.
Read moreIRRIGATION PILOT BRING DRAMATIC RESULTS AT VIETNAM COFFEE FARMS
Vietnamese coffee farmers working with Olam have seen water consumption on their farms drop by 33% following the installation in 2016 of six pilot irrigation systems – and contributing to a significant drop in production costs.
Read morePAVING THE WAY FOR CONSERVATION AND RESTORATION THROUGH FARMER EDUCATION
“I had never seen these animals before, but now I know and if they come to my farm, I just let them be. Olam taught me that they live just beside the mountain, near my farm, and sometimes we even hear them!”, said Mr. Aca, a Coffee farmer living near the habitats of Java hawk and Java gibbons.
Read moreECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT - A PROCESSING UNIT THAT TRANSFORMED A TOWN
Olam’s business strategy has always been about helping communities to produce the best produce as this also creates value for Olam and our customers.
Read moreMAKING GENDER EQUALITY WORK FOR EVERYONE
Olam is committed to ensuring gender equality throughout our value chain – from our plantations and farms, to the processing units, offices and senior management. This includes wages, opportunity for promotion and training.
Read moreKNOWLEDGE IS EMPOWERING - HELPING COFFEE FARMERS TO BE MORE PRODUCTIVE
Working on the ground at source allows us to actively pursue long-term relationships with farmers and suppliers based on responsible practices and trust. Something we have been doing successfully with coffee farmers in Vietnam.
Read moreA BETTER START IN LIFE - PRIMARY SCHOOL CONSTRUCTED IN JEANNOTKRO
Supporting social investments in communities is not only better for the farmers and their families, it’s better for customers. A great example is the primary school built in Jeannotkro, South Central Côte d’Ivoire.
Read moreSAVING ENERGY AND THE PLANET
As part of Olam’s Strategic Energy Management Plan, designed to grow renewable energy across global operations, major energy saving initiatives have been implemented in Olam Spices’ onion and garlic processing plants in the US.
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