Agriculture

01. Good farming practices

We are committed to helping our network of over 13,000 farmers grow for the future through good farming practices that increase land productivity and minimize environmental impact. Our dedicated field agriculture teams support farmers to adopt land efficient and soil friendly practices like intercropping and diversification, reducing artificial fertilizer use, growing regenerative crops and expanding organic farming operations. We’re also building competencies with technology, technical training and knowledge sharing towards creating environmental sustainability while increasing output quality and yield.

02. Stability for our farmer family

The CBL Govi Pawula or Farmer Family programme gives our farmers an active say in improving their livelihoods and drives better standards of living to farmer communities through necessary community infrastructure and better access to nutrition, healthcare and education. Our teams on the ground support farming communities with equipment and implements, support during adverse weather conditions, technology and data driven insights, learning and development and guaranteed purchase and pricing schemes to drive growth and stability in the sector.

03. Organic farming

We’re going beyond our Organic and Fairtrade certifications to support our 1200+ organic grower network and create stability for organic farmers and motivate more women and youth participation in the sector. Through forward sales contracts, organic fertilizer, date driven insights, training to build competencies, good practices to increase productivity and quality and, providing saplings and guidance to promote better soil health, carbon sequestration and minimized waste, we’re helping to make organic growing the way of the future.

04. Women in agriculture

We are committed to building an agricultural community that is inclusive and diverse with more women participating in the food supply chain. We're working across our communities to create more opportunities for women by providing seeds, equipment, training and hands on quality control and technical support. We are also collaborating with experts and with communities to support our female farmers and farmer families with learning opportunities, farming best practices, common infrastructure, healthcare and, scholarships for children.

Our Communities

01. Putting poverty in the past

Creating access to growth is essential to community development. Our nationwide sales teams work closely with rural communities to identify and fulfil essential community needs. Our teams work to build essential community infrastructure in rural communities, provide scholarships to prevent early school drop outs, give rural children access to learning opportunities and bridge income gaps through skills development, job opportunities and access to nutrition to help create growth across our value chain towards poverty free communities.

02. Diverse and inclusive communities

Our handcrafted Hope Cookie range empowers people with developmental disabilities through employment, increased financial and societal independence, and recognition as a valuable contributor to society. All profits from the sale of Hope cookies are reinvested to support and empower these communities. We want everyone to have the same opportunities for growth and we work to increase female participation in the workforce and help break gender stereotypes at our work, in our communities and in our partnerships.

03. A future ready retail sector

As one of Sri Lanka’s largest FMCG manufacturers, we want our nationwide distribution networks to take our products and better living standards to rural Sri Lanka. Through CBL Senehasin Jayamaga with the IFC, we’re supporting and mentoring entrepreneurs and developing critical competencies of over 5,000 small and medium scale distributors and traders and, by the year 2023 we will double the number of women in the sector and support over 40% of our network to adopt digital payment methods.

Our commitment to our planet

01. Changing how we use energy

Each year we get closer to our goal of moving towards fulfilling our energy needs through sustainable energy sources. Our teams consistently monitor and evaluate our energy needs and usage through sub metering to reduce our energy consumption. We’re working to reduce our dependency on the power grid through solar panels, replacing traditional heat sources with heat generated from waste for high consumption boilers and installing new energy efficient machinery.

02. Watering down our water use

We want to support water security in our nation and each year, we track, monitor and innovate to reduce our water usage and build water conservation and recycling practices. RO plants recycle water for gardening and washing, steam operated processes cut our water use considerably, rainwater harvesting helps support the agriculture chain and every day we implement small changes like installing sensor operated taps and carrying out awareness campaigns to minimize our water footprint.

03. Towards zero waste

Minimizing and effectively managing our waste is a focus area for our teams. We have reengineered our processes and introduced automation to reduce waste generated and resources consumed. Digitizing our processes allows us to move closer towards our goals of paperless offices and we work with our partners and communities to track our consumption and waste and to look for ways to reduce, reuse, recycle and redesign waste towards a circular economy.

A journey of purpose

We know that our actions make a difference. To the communities across Sri Lanka and beyond that rely on our products, to the 13,000+ network of farmers who supply us with fresh produce, to the distributors that partner us create a future ready retail sector, to the communities that benefit from our everyday actions and for our planet.  Through every challenge, we are committed to taking action to support Sri Lanka's growth.

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