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Black economic empowerment
The partnership between AFGRI and Agri Sizwe Empowerment Trust continues to operate well, with Agri Sizwe playing an important role in shaping the strategic direction of the business.
Agri Sizwe is in the process of establishing a special purpose vehicle, in conjunction with AFGRI, to focus on the development of black commercial farmers. The strategy focuses on SAFEX traded grain commodities being produced on 100% irrigated lands, with fixed off takes and managed production. This initiative will replace the defunct Farming operation that was launched in the 2007 – 2008 season. This will be a key strategy for AFGRI’s enterprise development in the years ahead.
In the previous rating AFGRI achieved a Level Six in terms of the Codes of Good Practice on broad-based black economic empowerment. The current indicative rating is Level Five. This was as a result of improvement in the following areas:- increased allocation on corporate social investment
- increased preferential procurement
- enterprise development.
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Environmental management
Overview
AFGRI is mindful of the environment and the impact and consequences its operations may have on it. The repercussions of poor environmental management and regulatory non-compliance, such as reputational damage, fines, prosecutions and potential site closure, represent real risks to today’s companies, which must be managed. Of particular importance at AFGRI are air emissions, effluent and waste management. These tangible risks can, in the main, be easily managed with the appropriate programmes and assistance from the risk services division of the Group’s insurance broker.
Many environmental management programmes and preventative procedures already exist throughout the Group, such as the implementation of ISO 9002 and 14001 standards at the Animal Feeds operations, the registration of the Nedan sites as a Major Hazardous Installation (MHI) with the Department of Labour, and the installation of dust extraction equipment and procedures at silo intake bins.
During the year, AFGRI has undertaken a group wide review of environmental management standards with the intention of developing a Group environmental management policy in the coming year. The policy will include the following:- a commitment to the continual improvement of environmental management
- environmental management will become a key performance indicator for employees whose function involves potential detriment to the environment
- environmental management will be included with the Group’s risk control system
- capital is to be allocated where required to improve environmental management and control
- procedures to address environmental considerations for new as well as existing operations
- provisions to conduct environmental management audits
- formal procedures currently used to identify health and safety hazards will be extended to include the identification of environmental hazards
- the updating of emergency procedures to include appropriate procedures to notify the relevant environmental agency
- environmental training and awareness of employees and
- the monitoring of the consumption of resources (especially electricity and water) and targets to reduce this consumption.