Coke's quest for water-wise cane

The sugar industry is South Africa's biggest agricultural employer (11%). It directly employs about 137000 people, and indirectly another 110000 -- accounting for 1,3% of the total number of jobs in the country.

But South Africa is water-scarce and, according to government statistics, 95% of the country's freshwater resources had been already allocated back in 2005. "We really have to look at how to grow more (sugar) with less (water);" says the World Wide Fund for Nature's (WWF's) Inge Kotze, co-ordinator of the nongovernmental organisation's Biodiversity and Wine Initiative, "farmers can do a lot in terms of irrigation and broader natural resource management. Alien plants take up a lot of water." About three years ago, Coca-Cola, one of the world's largest multinationals, decided to extend its focus on sustainability by looking to its supply chain. "The biggest part of our water footprint was water for actually growing sugar. Without water there is no business," Knight said.

In 2009 she came to KwaZulu-Natal's Noordsberg Sustainable Sugarcane Farm Management System (SusFarMS) initiative, one of the first comprehensive sustainability frameworks for sugar cane growers, where small-scale sugar farmers formed co-operatives and got better returns for their work. "South African farming overall is one of the most productive in the world," Knight told Business Day. She added that the SusFarMS formula fitted neatly into Coca-Cola's commitment to minimise water use so that the company had a water-neutral effect on local communities; and to promote customer information and its workforce's cultural diversity. "There is a huge opportunity in SA," Knight said "You have the infrastructure and the industry. Now the big challenge is how to get the small farmers up to the same standard (as large commercial farmers)."

Read the full article on www.businessday.co.za.