Ofi ranks highest for living income progress in food and agri sectors

Ofi has been rated the most advanced company in the 2023–2024 Platform Living Wage Financials (PLWF) benchmark for the Food Agri and Food Retail sectors. The assessment evaluated 22 companies on their efforts to enable a living income for smallholder farmers.

“Ofi has demonstrated notable progress in its commitment to living incomes,” a PLWF spokesperson says. “This is shown by its advancement to the ‘Advanced’ category and its target of 200,000 farmer households achieving a living income by 2030.”

A living income reflects the net annual income required for a decent standard of living — something many smallholder farmers struggle to reach. Roel van Poppel, chief sustainability officer at Ofi, says: “A living income is our North Star, but we know many farmers in our supply chains face multiple challenges.”

Research with Wageningen University & Research shows that while crops like coffee can be economically viable, many farmers lack sufficient land or yields to reach a living income.

“By focusing on efficiency in coffee farming, we can deliver support through training, access to inputs, and mechanization,” van Poppel says. “Our strategy is to tailor interventions and collaborate with customers and organizations to help farmers move closer to a living income.”

PLWF credited Ofi’s method of segmenting farmers by farm size and yield for enabling customized support. Ofi plans to expand these programs to reach one million farmers by 2030. The company currently works with about 500,000 farmers annually and reported that 50,000 households in its supply network had reached a living income by 2023.

Ofi has also made its living income measurement tool available to the wider agri-food sector through the TRACT SaaS platform. “Measuring income gaps is the crucial first step,” Van Poppel says. “That’s why we are partnering with others, including Nestlé and IDH, to create shared solutions that improve farmer resilience.”

Mark Birch of IDH says Ofi’s public release of its tool is a valuable step. “IDH supported this through external evaluation and collaboration.We are now working with Ofi on a new initiative to support cashew farmers in Côte d’Ivoire.”