Today, 37 leading agri-business companies have today launched the Global Agri-Business Alliance (GAA) in Singapore. Their aim is to collectively tackle the major environmental and social challenges facing agricultural supply chains and rural communities across the world.
Announced at the Building Sustainable Futures Forum sponsored by founding member Olam International, the GAA is a CEO-led, private sector initiative seeking to contribute significantly to the delivery of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, in particular SDG 2: End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture.
The companies already involved are headquartered across the world with representation from Africa, Asia, Australia, USA and South America, and are involved in commodities including grains, dairy, edible nuts and oils, pulses, rubber and sugar, as well as agro-chemicals.
"I believe that, consistent with Olam’s Core Purpose of Growing Responsibly, we should make sure that values and value creation are not traded off in the long term,” said Sunny Verghese, co-founder and CEO of Olam. “I am therefore excited about the formation of the Global Agri-business Alliance because as an industry, we need to be both brave and restless to make a real difference to the major developmental challenges that face our sector by harnessing our collective strengths."
Unique and substantial role
The GAA is unique in bringing together the companies operating closest to the ‘farmgate’ and therefore having the greatest influence on the stewardship of natural resources and surrounding communities, many of whom may also be employed by the sector. Member profile includes growers and producers; traders; fertilizer, agro-chemical and seed suppliers; agri-service providers, primary processors and agri-tech suppliers for both food and non-food crops.
David Nabarro, Special Advisor to the UN Secretary-General on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and Climate Change, said:“Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 will change our world: eradicating poverty, tackling climate change and ensuring a prosperous, safe and healthy future for our children and grandchildren.
"The SDGs also represent investment opportunities for responsible businesses, and are essential for sustainable economic growth. Achieving the SDGs will only be possible with the full commitment of the business community, transforming their business models to deliver also social and environmental value, and working in partnership with the public sector and civil society.
“The launch of the Global Agri-Business Alliance is excellent news for the SDGs.”
While many agri-companies already collaborate with non-governmental organizations, technical implementers, consumer brands and retailers, the members of the GAA will harness their collective strengths at the ‘front-line’ of agricultural production to help bring the scale and impact required to drive major change.
Members will collaborate to improve rural livelihoods and working conditions, mitigate climate risks and manage natural capital sustainably at the landscape-level. This powerful combination
will greatly improve food and nutrition security globally. In turn, this will also support the delivery of SDG 1– to end poverty in all its forms everywhere.
“The Global Agri-Business Alliance is a major step in aligning this critical sector behind the Sustainable Development Goals,” said Unilever CEO Paul Polman, also a member of Champions 12.3 and the SDG Advocacy Group. “We know the SDGs cannot be achieved without business and we must all go beyond our own individual supply chains towards broader sector-wide and value chain approaches. The alliance can catalyze likeminded businesses and collaborate with other business platforms to deliver the positive impact the world needs.”
Lord Mark Malloch-Brown, Chair of the Business and Sustainable Development Commission, commented: “Agri-business is most clearly linked to SDGs related to reducing hunger and ending poverty, but it is also critical to protecting livelihoods, achieving gender equality and fulfilling education. The companies of the Global Agri-business Alliance understand that their sector must help achieve sustainable development, but they also recognize the SDGs represent a tremendous business opportunity. We at the Business Commission look forward to working with the GAA and its member companies to seize these opportunities and create a more inclusive, sustainable world.”
Global Context
In providing food and raw materials, the agricultural sector employs more than 2 billion people globally, is a foundation for rural development, and underpins many economies in terms of share of GDP and employment.
Yet, the FAO currently estimates that of the 795 million undernourished people1, about 50 percent are from smallholder farming communities, surviving off of marginal lands prone to natural disasters such as drought or flood. At the same time, agriculture accounts for 70 percent of freshwater withdrawal and generates 12 percent of all manmade greenhouse gases – or up to 25 percent, if forestry and other land use are included. The sector’s ability to boost productivity, minimize food losses and reduce impacts on natural resources is critical to food security and inclusive growth for a world population projected to rise from about 7.3 billion to 8.5 billion in 2030.
List of GAA members at launch date (alphabetical order)
- AFGRI (South Africa)
- Agrocorp International Pte Ltd (Singapore)
- Agropalma Group (Brazil)
- Balsu Gida (Turkey)
- Besana Group (UK)
- Bidco Africa Ltd (Kenya)
- Chellam Plantations Group (Malaysia)
- Export Trading Group (Tanzania)
- Flour Mills of Nigeria PLC (Nigeria)
- Golden-Agri Resources Ltd (Singapore)
- Greenyield Berhad (Malaysia)
- Groupe Mimran (Senegal)
- Groupe SIFCA (Cote d’Ivoire)
- GURSOY Tarimsal Ürünler Gida Sanayi ve Ticaret A.S. (Turkey)
- Hakan Agro DMCC (UAE)
- Halcyon Agri Corporation (Singapore)
- IFFCO (UAE)
- Indian Oilseeds and Produce Export Promotion Council (India)
- Lewis M. Carter Manufacturing Inc. (US)
- Markham Agro Pte Ltd (Singapore)
- Minanga Group (Indonesia)
- Mitsubishi Corporation (Japan)
- Musim Mas Group (Singapore)
- MWT Foods (Australia)
- Olam International (Singapore)
- PureCircle Ltd (Malaysia)
- Reliable Cashew Company Pvt. Ltd. (India)
- SABIC (Saudi Arabia)
- Sime Darby Group (Malaysia)
- Tata Group (India)
- The Richard Franco Agency (US)
- Triputra Agro Persada (Indonesia)
- Univanich Palm Oil PCL (Thailand)
- Vijayalaxmi Cashew Company (India)
- Von Bundit Co. Ltd. (Thailand)
- Willowton Group (South Africa)
- Wilmar International Limited (Singapore)
1 Food and Agricultural Organization of the United States. (2015). The State of Food Insecurity in the World