The Diageo Empowerment Trust South Africa (DETSA) has embarked on a search for ambitious sorghum farmers across South Africa to supply the United National Breweries.The tender is open to emerging black farmers who qualify in line with the generic Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Codes.
In the 2020 programme, 3600 hectares of farming land will be made available to qualifying participants.
DETSA will provide successful applicants with both capital and mentoring in order to maximise their chances of success.The Trust will also help them gain access to new markets to ensure vital cash flow.
DETSA, alongside Diageo Africa affiliates, will facilitate applications through its channel
associations led by the African Farmers Association of South Africa (AFASA) and FNB; and
also supported by the Landbank, Small Enterprise Finance Agency (SEFA), Skudu and
Diageo PLC. AFASA also represents key association channels such as the National Grain
Association (NGA), Agricultural Research Council (ARC) and others.
Following this application stage, registered farmers will attend compulsory briefings between
30 August and 15 September 2019 in the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, Free
State, Gauteng and other provinces – details of this process will be made available at a later stage.
During briefings, applicants will be fully informed on tender requirements and the scope of supply. Thereafter, applicants will have to complete a secondary application which will be used to create a shortlist of qualifying participants. Shortlisted applicants will then be asked to provide compliance documents.
Those that make the shortlist will be notified of their status once the steering committee has made the decision and DETSA has ratified the recommendations.