SBL spends 12bn/- on small holder farmers, embarks on sorghum farming project in Handeni

As Serengeti Breweries Limited (SBL), one of the largest breweries in the country concluded its fiscal year in June, it has been established that the brewer has spent a whopping 12bn/- to the Tanzanian communities on buying grains, as it now embarks on engaging more small holder farmers to provide raw materials through an initiative in Handeni District, Tanga Region where the brewer has engaged and registered farmers to start cultivating sorghum which the brewer will purchase for production purposes.

With the sorghum farming project in Handeni District, which is slated for next year, SBL will have a total of eight regions from which it collects its raw materials, as the brewer projects to expand further to Mbeya and Kagera as well.

Currently, SBL sources its raw materials from seven regions, namely Manyara, Arusha, Kilimanjaro, Dodoma, Iringa, Singida and Shinyanga.

As part of initial preparations for the project, farmers in Handeni have already registered to partake in the much-anticipated project whereas 658 acres of land has been allocated for the project which will include demonstration farms.

The project is expected to benefit Handeni farmers with priority given to women and youths.

The project will further cement SBL’s commitment to increase collection of its raw materials from small holder farmers to reach 85 per cent which is equivalent to 13,000Mt in 2024 from the current 70 per cent which is equivalent to 11,000Mt.

SBL’s investment in small holder farmers, is part of the brewer’s key pillar known as ‘Grain to Glass’. In implementing this pillar, SBL works closely with smallholder farmers not only to source raw materials from the latter but also to empower them economically.

“To date we have engaged a total of 400 farmers across seven regions where we already have a database of farmers that we work with, for instance in the just concluded financial year we have sourced a total of 11,000Mt tonnes of our overall raw material from small holder farmers within the seven regions that are already in our database.

This is an increment by 70 per cent compared to 65 per cent sourced from them in the previous fiscal year,” said SBL Communication and Sustainability Manager, Rispa Hatibu.

Speaking of the anticipated sorghum farming project in Handeni district, Hatibu said SBL has been working closely with the District Agriculture officer, Yibarila Kamele to identify prospective areas for the project, as well as registering small holder farmers in Handeni to partake in the anticipated sorghum farming project.

For his part, Kamele said, “Initially, we had planned for the farmers to start cultivation this year but it dawn on us that this season wouldn’t give us the best results so I advised that the implementation of the project to start early next year, this will also give the farmers a chance to prepare their farms properly for this project.”

Ms Hatibu further noted that, the brewer is expecting to increase its reach of small holder farmers, from the current 400 farmers to 700 by 2025 which will entail adding more regions including Tanga, Mbeya and Kagera.

Through SBL’s Grain to Glass pillar, the brewer investments in smallholder farmers entails providing seeds as well as technical trainings to the farmers, to enable them to practice agriculture sustainably.