E-Malt.com News article: Haiti: Heineken’s sustainability strategy benefiting farmers in Haiti and other countries

Heineken’s sustainability strategy is called "Brewing a Better Future," and local sourcing is an important part of it. To that end, Heineken has committed to buying locally sourced sorghum in Haiti, Justmeans.com reported on October 28.

In 2012, Heineken consolidated its majority ownership of Brasserie Nationale d’Haiti S.A. (BRANA). Heineken invested about $20 million in constructing a fifth production line that launched in December 2013 and allowed BRANA to double bottled beer output. Another $20 million will go towards expansion of the brew house that BRANA will inaugurate in December.

In 2012, BRANA launched the Smallholders Alliance for Sorghum in Haiti (SMASH) at the Clinton Global Initiative Summit in New York. SMASH addresses issues like poor soil quality and efficient harvest yields. Last year, BRANA signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the US Agency for International Development (USAID). BRANA invested $3.4 million into SMASH and committed to sourcing locally produced sorghum to produce Malta H. Haitian farmers have increased sorghum yields by 100 percent and almost doubled their incomes as a result.

Heineken has made commitments to obtaining raw materials from sustainable sources, which include:

•Sustainable sourcing of 20 percent of barley, 40 percent of hops, 60 percent of apples by 2015
•50 percent of raw materials in Africa from local sourcing by 2015
•50 percent of its main raw materials from sustainable sources by 2020
•60 percent of its agricultural raw materials used in Africa to be locally sourced within the continent by 2020

Heineken launched the Community Revenue Enhancement through Agricultural Technology Extension (CREATE) program in 2013. Beer can be produced from a variety of grains, including barley, maize and sorghum. The CREATE project focuses on malt barley in Ethiopia, maize in Rwanda and sorghum in Sierra Leone. The program in Ethiopia is committed to buying locally produced barley for local brewery. The program aims to reach 20,000 Ethiopian farmers and produce 20,000 tons of local barley. The program partners with the Ethiopian government’s Agricultural Transformation Agency to develop the Ethiopian barley supply chain.

The CREATE program in Sierra Leone’s main goal is to increase the income of at least 2,000 sorghum farmers and their families. It also aims to improve both the quality and quantity of the sorghum farmers cultivate and produce over 1,000 tons a year. Heineken’s operating company Sierra Leone Brewery Limited has sourced 44 percent of its agricultural raw materials locally as a result of this program.

The aim of the CREATE program in Rwanda is to improve the incomes of smallholder farmers and increase food security by developing local maize production. The project builds on the Bramin Farm joint venture between Heineken’s operating company Bralirwa and local maize miller Minimex. Farmers who participate in the CREATE project will be connected to Bralirwa’s maize supply chain.



29 October, 2014