Hyderabad, Dec 7 (UNI) Strengthening its commitment to ensure communities access quality water, AB InBev on Saturday announced that they have signed an MOU with the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) to develop watershed replenishment structures in villages around Charminar and Crown Breweries in Sangareddy district in Telangana.

The partnership reinforces the company’s efforts to achieve its 2025 global sustainability goals on water stewardship and builds on AB InBev’s existing partnership with ICRISAT to establish water dispensing centers in the district.

Through this partnership, AB InBev is looking to positively impact 12 target villages in Sangareddy district by establishing more than 100 watershed replenishment structures ranging from on-farm ponds to check dams, promoting conservation and management of water and soil for smart, sustainable agriculture.

These villages are located around the company’s Charminar and Crown Breweries in Sangareddy district, the company said in a release here.

Speaking on the partnership, AB InBev South Asia Vice-President ( Supply and Logistics) Gagandeep Sethi said, “India is among the 17 countries with the highest number of water stressed areas. This agreement with ICRISAT will see us positively impact 12 villages with over 30,000 people while also promoting water and soil resource conservation and management to promote sustainable agriculture practices.

This partnership will additionally focus on reducing poverty, fighting malnutrition, replenishing watershed, supporting rural development and promoting gender equality. This also helps achieve a circular economy of ensuring 100 per cent of its products used for packaging or production can be recycled by 2025, Mr Sethi added.

AB InBev’s existing partnership with ICRISAT has already resulted in the development of 94,000 cubic meters of water storage capacity in pilot villages over the last seven years.

Many countries can learn from India about the role innovation can have in delivering benefits on the ground.

ICRISAT has a key opportunity in taking the learnings from the partnership it has with AB InBev to the global community,” Dr Peter Carberry, Director General, ICRISAT said on the occasion.

AB InBev has been leading several water security initiatives across the country including water reuse within breweries, watershed management for communities around breweries in Rajasthan, Haryana and Telangana along with water harvesting and management activities with barley farmers through its Smart Barley program.

Through the setup of Water Health Centers, the company has been instrumental in providing water access to over 100,000 people in Bengaluru, the release said.

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