Uganda Breweries Limited (UBL)will expand its Farm for Success, previously Local Raw Material, program from the current 35,000 farmers to 50,000 farmers.
The move has been necessitated by the firm’s desire to source 100% of agriculture materials used in producing its various brands from Uganda by 2030.
The development was announced during the annual farmers symposium that Uganda Breweries created to create mutual understanding, collaboration and foster economic growth and development in the agriculture value chain.
Andrew Kilonzo, the Managing Director of UBL stressed that as part of the company’s efforts to increase diversity and inclusion in their processes, they will be looking to onboard more women and people with disabilities as part of this program.
“We do this, not just to meet a quarter, but part of sourcing sustainably means that people who have not been a part of this value chain are brought to the table, and are supported in the best farming practices not only so that they can supply us the grain that we need, but that they can earn a livelihood, be self-sufficient and hopefully, pay it forward to the other previously marginalized communities,” he said.
The Local Raw Material program started in 1987 with Barley farming but the program kicked off in earnest in 2003 when government introduced excise concessions for beer produced from locally resourced raw materials to facilitate the choice and use of local raw materials in the alcohol production process.
UBL was then able to make several investments to accommodate increased local raw materials, for example, a $21.3 million Mash Filter investment in 2011.
That same year, payments to farmers peaked at over 14 billion, jumped to 26 billion in 2017, and currently stands at over shs52 billion as of 2022.
Kilonzo said the key challenges facing farmers include poor agricultural practices, low technological adoption, insecurity over land ownership, poor access to extension services, low-quality inputs, and unpredictable weather patterns and also lack of credit to farmers because of the high-risk commercial banks append to the usually unpredictable agriculture output.
“We are proud of the fact that today, we purchase 95% of agriculture products we use in production from Ugandan farmers but we are relentless in seeing this number settle at 100% so that when we boldly say we are Uganda Breweries, it is because we are sourced, produced and packaged 100% in Uganda,” he said.
The State Minister for Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries Fred Bwino Kyakulaga said that programs like UBL’s Farm for Success are in line with several government objectives as outlined in the National Development Plan (NDP) III.
“My ministry looks forward to supporting Uganda Breweries Limited as well as other willing companies in such ventures, and I know Ugandan farmers have the capacity to more than fulfill the 100% local sourcing intention,” Kyakulaga said.