On Friday, June 09, 2017, an agreement was signed between the Brasserie du Bénin / Benin Brewery (BB) of Lomé and the rice ESOPs “Entreprises de Services et Organisations de Producteurs / Service Companies and Farmer Organizations” promoted by the NGO “Entreprises Territoires et Développement / Enterprises Territories and Development (ETD).

The goal of the partnership between the BB Lomé and the rice ESOPs of Togo is to supply about 1000 tons of local rice a year to the brewery for the production of the local beer PILS

This partnership is part of BB Lomé’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policy, and especially within the scope of its “Local Community Development” axis (employment and agriculture).

The ceremony began at 9:00 am at the concert hall of the Radisson Blu / 2 Février hotel. It brought together personalities such as the Minister of Environment and Forest Resources, the Deputy Managing Director of the Brasserie du Bénin, the Human Resources Manager of the brewery and the Managing Director of ETD.

At the beginning, the floor was given to Mr. Jean-Claude DOGO, the Human Resources Manager of the brewery who welcomed and wished a pleasant ceremony to the participants.

For his part, Mr. Komi ABITOR, the Managing Director of ETD thanked the audience and the various actors who made it possible to sign the partnership with the ESOPs. More specifically, his gratitude to the Togolese government for its support and assistance of the ESOP system. The CEO of ETD also thanked other partners such as AFD, the EU and the World Bank. He recalled the story, the principles and the impacts of the ESOPs and, as a promoter of the ESOP initiative, he recognized his responsibility as guarantor of the BB-Lomé-ESOP Notsè alliance.

Compelled to take the floor, Mr. Thierry FERAUD, the Deputy General Manager of the brewery, mentioned the strong will of the Brasserie du Bénin to contribute to the strengthening of the Togolese economy. He stated that it is this vision that has led the brewery to choose to use local rice in the production of local beer, a beer made for over 50 years, ingredients such as hops, malt and rice.

BB’s CEO further outlined the long-term and medium-term goals of the contract to be signed by estimating that: “Our alliance aims to create wealth through income-generating activities.”

Moreover, building on the experience and the double quality certification (ISO 9001 version 2008 and FSSC 22000 version 2005) of the BB-Lomé, Mr Thierry FERAUD emphasized that it is also “to reassure Togolese consumers about the quality of rice produced in Togo “.

The ceremony continued with the speech of Mr. André JOHNSON, the Minister of the Environment and Forest Resources, representing the Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Hydraulics.

In his speech, the Minister reaffirmed the commitment of the Head of State to work for the development of Togolese agriculture by quoting various construction sites and projects including PNIASA and PASA, to name but a few. He welcomed the Director of BB-Lomé for the conclusion of this partnership and invited each party to respect its commitments. During his speech, the Minister JOHNSON also called other companies to follow the example of the brewery by estimating the “relevant model but perfectible“.

The agreement between the BB-Lomé and the Togo rice ESOP network was then signed and, to close the event, a documentary film of the BB was broadcast to allow everyone to take the full extent of this new alliance.

The partnership between BB-Lomé and Togo’s rice ESOPs is expected to secure the incomes of at least 3,000 family farmers and create up to 500 new agricultural jobs in rural areas.

This partnership is an opportunity offered by the BB-Lomé to promote the efforts of ESOPs and to enable them to increase their production capacity.

In fact, despite the commendable vocation of ESOPs (to increase and secure the incomes of small farmers by helping them to improve their standard of living), these remain agribusiness companies that need support to develop and fully achieve their goals.

It is to be hoped that, like the BB-Lomé for the production of the “Bière Bien de chez nous”, other corporate citizens and other partners will come soon to support the transformation of family farming in order to “Act better to live together“.