KUNMING, Dec. 17 (Xinhua) -- Global food giant Nestle's coffee center and Yunnan Agricultural University signed a memorandum of understanding Monday to improve coffee plants in the city of Pu'er in southwest China's Yunnan Province.

The move will improve the yield of coffee and the quality of coffee beans, as well as to reinforce the Yunnan coffee industry's competitiveness and sustainable development.

Nestle said it would purchase around 10,000 tonnes of coffee beans in Pu'er between 2018 and 2019, the largest coffee plantation center in Yunnan.

Nestle will also transplant new coffee plant varieties to different places in Yunnan to find out the best variety in six years or longer, according to Wang Hai, general manager of the coffee center, which started operation in Pu'er in 2016.

"The cooperation between Nestle and the university will combine international and indigenous technology to raise Yunnan coffee's prestige in global markets, and benefit more local coffee growers," said Lu Han, head of Pu'er municipal coffee and tea industry bureau.

Located in the global golden growth zone of Arabica coffee beans, Pu'er has 52,600 hectares of coffee plantation areas and an annual trading volume of 100,000 tonnes of coffee.