SAB commits to help black emerging barley farms

South African Breweries (SAB) says it will accelerate its support for local small to medium enterprises. The group this year committed an additional R920 million, boosting its local investment commitments for 2022 to R4.5 billion. They have already spent half of this money to procure glass bottles from two key suppliers, one being black-owned.

The rest of the money will be used to develop small and medium enterprises especially youth and women in business. They are also investing in black emerging farmers.

Sipho Sibanda is an emerging black farmer in Taung, North West.  He is amongst 51 farmers who own 471 hectares of land that produce barley and maize, key brewing ingredients for beer.

Under Farmsol and SAB, they employ other farm workers. This has helped reduce unemployment in his community. They have just harvested enough barley to meet SAB’s request, He owns 20 hectares of land.

“Last season, I made 124 tonnes for barley, and for maize this season I made 11 point-something tonnes. After the farm, Sol deducts their money and maybe pays the harvester, transport, electricity and my guys at least. I’m left with something. Last season, barley was six point-something thousand per tonne,” says Sibanda.

The country’s liquor industry is a significant contributor to the South African economy,  In 2019, it contributed approximately R74 billion to GDP or 1,3%.

The liquor value chain is also a complex ecosystem that sustains over 248 000 jobs. In 2020, COVID-19 lockdown restrictions severely impacted the industry which was brought to its knees.

SAB was one of the companies that faced multiple challenges but has been able to come back with a swing.  This year the company contributed R4.5-billion towards President Cyril Ramaphosa’s investment initiative to ignite the economy. It currently has over 200 000 direct and indirect jobs. One of its key strategies is to enable black emerging farmers to thrive in the agriculture sector.

“From where I was until now, it did improve my life, a lot, I build a house, I bought a car, and I did get married. I’m paying the school fees nicely at school and livestock I did buy some sheep,” a Farmer says.

Despite the support, the barley farmers say they are facing a number of challenges.  They have problems with Eskom, load shedding affects their irrigation systems.  They also face security challenges.

“Eskom is estimating the readings. It’s taking a lot of money. I can say we are sharing our profits with Eskom. And then as you can see my farm is next to the village and when we plant maize, they come and steal, they steal the maize,” another Farmer explains.

CEO at SAB, Richard Rivett-Carnac says his company will continue to invest in the local economy. It also plans to invest more money in the agriculture sector, particularly black farmers.

“Firstly, beer is made from water, hops, and barley. So I’ll turn next to local, it is truly a local product. Right, we touch all parts of South Africa, and we have a very broad and deep distribution network. We have customers across the whole of South Africa,” says Rivett-Carnac.

Eustace Mashimbye, CEO at Proudly SA says local job creation is paramount. He says localization and local content are key criteria for proudly SA membership. Proudly South Africa says it supports SAB initiatives.

“So in this so called negative investment climate, we find ourselves in this as is widely perceived to have a company that has invested over R2 billion into our country’s economy. A company that sources its ingredients from over 1 200 South African farmers, a company whose local content or local beers are over 90% locally sourced from farm all the way to when it gets to the bottle, a company that impacts over 40 000 jobs throughout its extensive value chains, a company that is home to over 5 700 employees. To have a company like this that is invested in people, not just consumers gives us hope that maybe some of the other companies on the country’s top 100 Companies list will follow in your footsteps, ASAP and will put their money where their mouths are,” says Mashimbye.

SAB has also partnered with the World Wildlife Fund for Nature of South Africa to support sustainable farming practices amongst South African barley farmers. Sustainable farming focuses on water reduction and improved carbon footprint and restoration of the ecosystem.

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Source: SABC News (sabcnews.com)