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Tinashe Kairiza Business Correspondent
Leading beverages manufacturer Delta Corporation says it has spent an estimated $13 million financing the production of sorghum and barley, key ingredients required by the firm to sustainably run and support its breweries. The amount, invested during the 2013/2014 summer cropping season under Delta’s contract farming scheme, is part of a raft of measures the beverage giant has traditionally employed to source barley and sorghum locally, rather than rely on costly imports.

But in 2013, the company had to import sorghum from Malawi due to shortages of the commodity on the domestic market.
In a statement, Delta says over $1 million was invested to contract 8 976 farmers who produced 9 339 tonnes of sorghum.

The firm also contracted 73 barley farmers to the tune of over $11 million who produced 46 196 tonnes of the grain.
“Total (sorghum and barley) investment is as follows:

Barley- $11,514,759.67, Sorghum- $1,170,752.00, Total –$12,685,511.67,” read part of the e-mailed statement.
In total, Delta contracted 9 049 farmers to grow grain during the 2013/2014 cropping season.

The company has since indicated that it will spend $590 000 to support production of 2 000 tonnes of white and red sorghum varieties during the 2014/2015 season.
Delta requires an estimated 12 000 tonnes of sorghum annually.

Delta’s demand for sorghum and barley, among major raw materials rose exponentially when the firm increased its production capacity following acquisition of state of the art bottling lines in recent years.
But lager volumes for the first quarter to June 30 dropped 21 percent year on year.