We all have a responsibility to restore the natural world on which life depends. We’re aiming to do our bit by eliminating waste from our value chain, collaborating with farmers to regenerate landscapes and creating innovative solutions to grow sustainably.
We are doubling the number of farmers trained on regenerative agriculture in Africa, Latin America, North America, Asia and Europe and providing all our local sourcing communities with agricultural skills and resources, supporting 150,000 smallholder farmers by 2030.
We’re aiming to make our agricultural supply chains economically, socially and environmentally sustainable and reinforcing our commitment to ensure Human Rights and working conditions throughout our value chain.
At the heart of our approach is the recognition that partnerships with farmers are the most effective way to promote sustainable farming practices and secure local supply networks.
We have seen how these partnerships, when successful, can change lives and transform communities. We are keen to ensure that our models and partnerships remain inclusive, allowing for participation by both small and large-scale farmers, women and youth farmers and entrepreneurs.
In recognition of the importance of these partnerships to our business and our suppliers, one of our 2030 targets is to establish partnerships with farmers to develop sustainable agricultural supplies of key raw material.
Local, sustainable sourcing of agricultural raw materials is a business imperative that supports our growth ambitions across the world.
In Africa alone, our commitment to local sourcing provides a sustainable source of income for more than 80,000 smallholder farmers across Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. Local sourcing also provides much needed investment in agricultural economies and local supply chains.
The development of a scalable barley value chain in Ethiopia and the sugar cane value chain in Brazil are examples of our commitment to build capacity and develop local farming communities for the long-term future.
Our brewing businesses have had close connections with farmers in Africa for decades. Africa continues to be an important focus for our activities, both as our largest region by volume for beer, and as a region where we see significant potential for developing partnerships based on sustainable farming practice.
We sourced 79% of agricultural raw materials locally within Africa for use by our African markets, compared with 82% last year. This percentage fell slightly as Covid-19 restrictions pushed us just below our target of 80%.
We hope to use our position as a large commercial and responsible buyer to test and prove models that governments and peer organisations can use to accelerate growth within the agricultural sector in Africa.
Through investment in equipment and ongoing maintenance and supply, we are bringing new solar energy, renewable biomass power and water efficiency initiatives to breweries in seven African countries.
Read our Annual Report and Sustainability & Responsibility Performance Addendum for more information on sustainable supply chains and how we're doing against our targets.
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