Social Impact

The largest part of the green beans processed and sold by Alpine Coffee Estate are beans purchased directly from local farmers at premium prices, ensuring additional income to farmers. Besides this, Alpine Coffee actively trains local farmers in coffee farming, ensuring high quality produce. Following a large increase of migration of people living in rural areas to cities, this will provide an additional incentive for local people to stay in their traditional environment.

Additionally, 25-30 people are employed on a temporary basis at the farm during the harvest period, with a majority of women employed. At the factory, 18 people are full-time employed. Besides which Alpine Coffee also initiated a local coffee cooperative of 100 farmers in Nuwakot and is supporting them through sapling distribution, knowledge sharing and providing market at their doorsteps.

Finally, growing coffee has large effects on the soil. Since most of the land used for coffee planting used to be barren land, both the plants and the shading trees significantly lower soil erosion in the region. As a side effect, these trees also provide a habitat for local fauna (birds and small mammals).