Farmers with Disabilities Urged to join Program Seeking to Increase Sorghum and Barley Production
Farmers with disabilities have been urged to join the Kenya Breweries Limited’s Contract Farming Program that has thousands of farmers from around the country.
Farmer with disability (Denish Ochieng/ Standard Newspaper)
Farmers with disabilities have been urged to join the Kenya Breweries Limited’s Contract Farming Programme that has thousands of farmers from around the country.
Implemented through East African Maltings Limited (EAML), the program entails sourcing sorghum and barley, the raw material for brewing, from local farmers.
The company says the call to include farmers with disabilities is part of its diversity and inclusion efforts, that have already seen several farmers with disabilities participate and benefit from the program.
Inclusion of farmers with disabilities into the program was launched in Homa Bay County in March this year and attracted 39 farmers with disabilities, who have a total of 76.5 acres of planting white sorghum for use in the production of Senator Keg beer.
Eric Kiniti, EABL Group Corporate Relations Director said the easing of COVID-19 restrictions such as the reopening of on-trade outlets (bars, pubs, and restaurants) by the government has paved way for the revision of Kenya Breweries Limited’s grain demand.
According to Kiniti, the company has reaffirmed its commitment to locally sourced sorghum and barley by revising its grain demand upwards to 20,000 tonnes sorghum and 20,000 tonnes barley, which is almost double the volumes projected in August during the lockdown.
“During the lockdown due to Covid-19, the economic restrictions depressed our sales and in turn caused us to reduce our grain demand,” he said.
Kiniti said the local sourcing program is a crucial business priority for the company because it enables it to grow value together with the farmers in Kenya.
Currently, the company is working with over 47,000 farmers across Kenya who earned over Sh2 Billion last year.
“To join the program, farmers can obtain an expression of interest form by visiting our agricultural wing – East African Maltings Limited (EAML) offices at Molo or any of our appointed aggregator or alternatively email us,” he said in conclusion.
Margaret Njuguna