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Sugar cane growers at Illovo Sugar South Africa's 2024 growers' day in Sezela, South Africa
The global sugarcane industry is particularly vulnerable to human rights related risks due to its reliance on labour-intensive and seasonal activities such as weeding, planting, cane cutting, and harvesting.
ABF Sugar recognises that its long-term success relies on upholding the respect and dignity of its workforce, supply chain workers and other stakeholders. The division aims to ensure that ‘Decent Work’ conditions are respected across its operations. These conditions are defined by the International Labour Organization, and include paying fair wages, providing safe working conditions and promoting dignity and equality.
The Group Supplier Code of Conduct sets out the values and standards which ABF Sugar’s businesses require in their operations and supply chains. Additionally, our sugar businesses in Africa have implemented their own Code of Conduct and Business Ethics. All policies and codes are reviewed and communicated with the approval of ABF Sugar Executive Committee. It is the responsibility of each ABF Sugar business to comply with these policies and codes.
Driven by upcoming regulation requiring companies to implement more detailed due diligence processes, ABF Sugar has started a new review of its businesses’ supply chain and operations-related activities. This assessment, guided by the risk-based approach set out in the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) and Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises on Responsible Business Conduct (OECD Guidelines), has revealed opportunities for improvement.
As a first step, ABF Sugar is working at a divisional level to support its businesses to address these findings, including by developing a Human Rights Policy and Due Diligence Framework.
The Human Rights Policy will outline ‘Decent Work’ principles across its operations and supply chain while the Human Rights Due Diligence Framework guides the processes to identify, prevent, mitigate, and manage human rights risks and impacts. This Framework is aligned with the OECD Guidelines.
Additionally, to better assess the inherent risks in its businesses’ supply chain, ABF Sugar has refined its country risk assessment approach in 2023/24, using a number of external tools. The updated methodology serves a dual purpose: to trial an early warning process for its businesses, identifying in which countries potential risks, including those related to human rights, are more likely to occur; and to enable the businesses to make more informed purchasing decisions by evaluating and prioritising countries based on their risk profiles.
Training is a key part of its approach to mitigate human and labour rights-related risks, with businesses required to train their staff and grower partners on issues such as child labour, forced labour and safety. This includes online training for all head office staff at ABF Sugar and each of the businesses every three years, training for all new starters, and in-person training.
In the UK, British Sugar introduced a Responsible Procurement Policy that outlines how the business should engage with suppliers and manage environmental and social risks in its operations and among its suppliers. This Policy covers key priorities such as decarbonisation, more sustainable agriculture practices and respect for human rights.
ABF Sugar’s businesses continue to invest in their relationships with communities and key stakeholders. For instance, our sugar businesses in Africa recognise that their sugar estates are a key part of the communities where they operate, and this is reflected in their activities to support those communities, for example by helping with the provision of clinics, schools or local services to support their workforce, and in some cases their communities and surrounding neighbours.
In 2023/24, our sugar businesses in Africa invested in several community support projects across their operational areas. These initiatives focused on providing access to potable water, offering natural disaster relief, improving healthcare, advancing education and developing infrastructure.
In Africa, ABF Sugar suffered the effects of extreme weather events again in 2023/24. Persistent heavy rainfall across the Central Region of Malawi in early March 2024 triggered flooding in many areas, affecting one of our African sugar estates in Dwangwa, Malawi. The situation affected thousands of livelihoods in the district and caused considerable damage to company farms, machinery and equipment. Illovo Sugar Malawi supported the Government of Malawi by leading the rescue efforts in the area and providing shelter for displaced communities in schools on the estate.
Illovo Sugar Malawi provided fuel for boats that were rescuing people trapped by the floods, and distributed maize flour, blankets, buckets, sanitary pads and small tents to flood victims who were accommodated on the estate. Working together with the Ministry of Health, Illovo Sugar Malawi Dwangwa hospital was designated as a temporary referral medical facility for all medical emergencies that isolated Government Health Centres were not able to manage.
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The K4 sugar factory and warehouse under construction at Kilombero in Tanzania
In 2021, ABF Sugar’s business, Kilombero Sugar Company Limited (KSCL), in which Illovo Sugar Africa holds 75% of the shareholding and the Government of the United Republic of Tanzania holds 25%, announced a sugar manufacturing expansion project in Tanzania, in response to the growing regional demand for sugar.
Landesa, an international NGO, and local partners PELUM Tanzania, are implementing a Community-Smart Consultation and Consent project to strengthen land rights and inclusive, collaborative natural resource governance within the Kilombero Valley in Tanzania. KSCL as a corporate partner to the project provides technical input to village land use plans and in turn is empowered to implement and apply the business's Guidelines on Land and Land Rights, especially the commitments to free, prior, and informed consent and gender equity.
The project also seeks to promote community development rather than simply increase production. By working closely with local communities and village leaders, the initiative aims to enhance capacity in land and natural resource management. So far the project has reached 876 villagers and distributed educational materials, including a villagers’ land rights handbook. Additionally, the project has issued 2,372 Community Certificates of Rights Occupation (CCROs), with 36% allocated to women, and conducted participatory village land use planning for 13,228 hectares.
In addition, the project is implementing advanced irrigation systems and best agricultural practices, including sophisticated soil and leaf analysis, efficient harvesting techniques, and improved pest and disease control.
Donation of goods from Zambia Sugar to assist the fight against a cholera outbreak in the Mazabuka district, Zambia
Zambia experienced a severe nationwide cholera outbreak between October 2023 and April 2024, with close to 23,000 cases and over 700 deaths reported. The Government of Zambia subsequently declared the cholera outbreak a public health emergency.
In response to the outbreak, Zambia Sugar supported the public health response by rehabilitating a 40-bed cholera treatment facility near one of its estates and providing medical and water treatment supplies to the local government medical facilities. Zambia Sugar’s medical services teams supported local communities by educating them about cholera and conducting health awareness talks.
The Nakambala Urban Clinic, a health facility in Mazabuka, Zambia, that was refurbished with funding by Zambia Sugar in 2023
Zambia Sugar has been proactively addressing the challenge of malaria by implementing comprehensive new control measures. Collaborating with local health authorities and NGOs, the company deployed interventions including biological control measures and malaria surveillance.
Surveillance approaches range from malaria testing and treatment, delivered through community health workers and health facilities, to active surveillance in the community, targeting groups such as migrant workers and farm workers.
