Creating a local sorghum
supply chain in Sierra Leone
48
Sierra Leone
Brewing a Better Future Millennium Development Goals
HAF also contributed to the Well Woman Clinic in
Freetown, Sierra Leone. This was opened in May
2010 with support from our local Sierra Leone
Brewery and The Melvine Edith Patricia Stuart
Trust, a local charity. The clinic provides free
screening to pregnant women, which enables
the early detection of complications.
Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
For the past ten years, Heineken has provided
employees and their families with HIV/AIDS
prevention and care programmes that include
free education, counselling, testing and treatment.
In 2010, we began assisting small and medium
enterprises (SMEs) in our supply chain to set up
their own HIV/AIDS programme, similar to our own;
where it concerns preventive activities, access to
treatment is organised through the public sector.
Now we reach for instance truck drivers, security
guards and contract workers.
An innovative partnership between Guinness
Nigeria, Nigerian Breweries and Unilever
Nigeria has advanced a model for supply chain
engagement that could be deployed across
Africa. In Nigeria, together with Diageo and
Unilever and support from the German
Gesellschaft fiir Technischen Zusammenarbeit
(GTZ) and The Nigerian Business coalition on
HIV AIDS (NIBUCAA), our own HIV workplace
programme has been expanded to nine SMEs
(three from each partner). This allows us to reach
an additional 14,000 employees in the supply chain
of these companies, of which over 8,000 are in
companies working with Nigerian Breweries. In the
Democratic Republic of Congo, we are working
with GTZ to help 19 of our supply chain SMEs
reach out to an additional 2,500 employees.
In June 2010, three of Heineken's Africa
programmes were commended by the Global
Business Coalition, an NG0 fighting against
HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. The first
programme involves our investment in mosquito
nets impregnated with insecticides to reduce
malaria in Rwanda. This initiative was funded by
HAF. The second programme related to the
previously mentioned extension of the HIV/AIDS
services to the supply chain in Nigeria. Finally, we
were commended for our HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis
and malaria workplace programmes.
Because barley doesn't grow in tropical climates, the Sierra Leone
Breweries Limited (SLBL) used to import the crop from Europe.
This was expensive, generated additional carbon emissions,
provided no incremental benefit in terms of employment or
income for the local population and exposed the brewery to
undesirable exchange rate fluctuations and logistical complications.
In 2005, SLBL joined together with several partners to create a
truly sustainable solution. The partners were the Common Fund
for Commodities, a European co-funding partner, the European
Cooperative for Rural Development, which provided agricultural
expertise, and Vancil Enterprises, a local implementation office.
"First, a Nigerian sorghum cultivar was optimised for Sierra
Leonean conditions. Then, we showed farmers how to grow,
harvest, package and transport sorghum in a profitable way.
We also supported them with seeds, fertilizer and micro-credits,"
explains Cor Honkoop, the brewer's General Manager.
SLBL made another crucial contribution that is at the heart of our
innovative approach. "We guaranteed farmers we would buy a
set amount of sorghum and pay a fixed price cash on delivery,"
says Cor. Volumes were low the first three years because farmers
had to gain trust in those promises. Once they saw the brewery
consistently kept its word, volumes went up from 20 tons in the
first year to a projected 500 tons in 2011.
The project is a resounding success: the supply chain is stable,
effective and financially beneficial to farmers and the brewery.
"The brewery gets a quality crop at a lower price and with lower
emissions. In turn, we provide a stable income for 1,600 farm
families, which has helped them to improve their quality of life,"
says Cor.
The value chain will exist indefinitely and the brewery will take
over the tasks of the other project partners over the next three
years. "This is what sustainability should be like: we have set up
something that is valuable and structural. Similar projects are
being planned in Burundi and Rwanda," says Cor.
More examples of the important work done by
HAF can be found in the Heineken Cares section
of this report.
