Support water projects, private sector urged
TBL Group managing director Roberto Jarrin (right), who doubles as the AB InBev president of Marketing in East Africa, speaks during the World Bank’s Tanzania Economic Update conference in Dar es Salaam yesterday. The theme of the event was ‘Managing Water Wisely’. With him (from left) are the minister of State in the Vice President’s Office (Union Affairs and Environment), Mr January Makamba; the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Water and Irrigation, Prof Kitila Mkumbo; his Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation colleague, Prof Adolf Mkenda; and chief executive officer for the Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania, Mr Geoffrey Kirenga. PHOTO|THE CITIZEN CORRESPONDENT
What you need to know:
- Mr Jarrin who is also the TBL Group managing director was speaking at the 10th Economic Update Meeting organized by the World Bank here which sought to address the urgent need of improving water resource management in Tanzania.
Dar es Salaam. The private sector has a key role in ensuring that it utilises and manages water efficiently to ensure that the resource is available to all, the AB InBev President for East Africa, Mr Roberto Jarrin, said yesterday.
Mr Jarrin who is also the TBL Group managing director was speaking at the 10th Economic Update Meeting organized by the World Bank here which sought to address the urgent need of improving water resource management in Tanzania.
The meeting highlighted the strong link between economic growth and water given that agriculture is the mainstay of industrial growth in the country.
Agriculture accounts for 89 per cent of the water used in the country. According to Mr Jarrin,d water is a major ingredient of its products and that the company had a water footprint strategy which provided clear global guidelines and bench marks on the effective use and management of water at all its sites.
“We have, over the years, maintained a clear focus on improving the quality of water as well as reducing the amount of water that we use to produce our products. In addition to this, we are committed to working with farmers to consider ways in which we can manage this ‘finite’ resource,” he said.
Mr Jarrin goes on to say that water and agricultural produce mainly – barley, sorghum and maize – are the most important ingredients in all the products produced by TBL group. “We will therefore, continue to work with stakeholders to support sustainable business practices in the water and agriculture sector,” he said.
