Ricardo Nuncio, managing director, Red Stripe (second left), and presenters at the Project Grow Outgrower Programme briefing session — Dr Nickeisha Reid, (left) farm manager, and Dr Cavell Francis-Rhiney, LRM business development manager (second right) —engage in discussion with Ricardo Mallett, a farmer from Clarendon. Mallett was one of 50 independent farmers selected recently to participate in Red Stripe’s Project Grow Outgrower Programme.
Beer manufacturer Red Stripe hopes to employ approximately 400 farmers over the next five years as part of plans to continue strengthening its import substitution strategy.
The company, which recruited a new cadre of farmers for its Project Grow programme in which local cassava is used in beer production, is also moving to increase cassava production to 30 tonnes per hectare, up from the national average of 12-19.
Cassava replaces imported high maltose corn syrup in Red Stripe’s beer production.
The farmer recruitment session, which was recently held at Red Stripe’s headquarters, is part of plans to develop a sustainable cassava supply chain and to increase usage of local raw materials in the company’s brewed products by up to 40 per cent by 2020.
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/business/Red-Stripe-plans-to-employ-400-farmers_93464
