Et harum quidem rerum facilis est et expedita distinctio.
Sustainability Plan
We work for a possibility to reach what is known as a triple result: Creating of Value, Environmental protection and Social Responsibility.
These three components generate a common goal: building a better future for the people and for the small piece of the world that belongs to us and we are committed to develop, protect and enjoy with responsibility.
The three entities that are part of Agricola Himalaya are: Company, Workers Fund and Foundation, permanently develop interrelated strategies to meet the goals for sustainable growth.
CREATING VALUES: || Development and progress.
Our product can help achieve a better living conditions for thousands of people. Its high percentage of antioxidants and other beneficial components for your health, produce multiple benefits that are scientifically proven.
We look to increase the number of consumers on a national and international level by using three basic strategies:
1. Portfolio diversification and the distribution to reach more consumers in all of the social levels, giving them a healthy offer.
2. Producing with quality, continuously looking to improve our standards.
3. Having competitive and reasonable prices.
To achieve what is previously stated, innovation is a priority in everyone’s list, always keeping in mind that the company will prioritize those products with health benefits, following global tendencies and taking advantage of scientific progress.
ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY: || United for the planet
Behind closed doors: the company develops agricultural, industrial manufactural, distribution, marketing, and administration processes. The first ones mentioned previously take place in Bitaco, Valle del Cauca, and the main goal is to take care of the environment, and rationally use water and energy, and good waste management. In the other processes the main objective is the continue improvement of each one of them, utilizing clean and state of the art technologies, also guaranteeing the flawless handling of water, energy and waste.
Beyond company gates: the company has been characterized by its environmental vocation. This is shown by the proportional use of Bitaco´s lands: preserving 117 hectares of forests and at the same time only 62 hectares are dedicated to grow tea and aromatics, which are healthy and friendly to the ecosystem and 30 more hectares are for cattle, which in year 2020 will be incorporated to the list of crops.
Our crops are a biological corridor, which allows the preservation of the ecosystems with 256 bird species, 28 amphibious, 23 reptiles and 772 flora.
Aware that water is a global priority, our goal is a continuous growth that will bring us bigger challenges: To radiate to the neighbourhood the conviction that the region of Bitaco is a forest area with springs that currently supplies water to a population of 10,000, and this number can reach 15,000 in 2020.
We are aware that the climate change will increasingly influence more our business and will demand an increase a great amount of actions to protect our surroundings.
These actions will be taken to influence education, investigation and innovation, created in different areas for adults, children and young people.
GEARED SOCIALLY: || a better life quality for our workers and the people from the region of Bitaco.
This sustainability component demands us to mitigate the negative impacts that our job produces, this implies the use of natural resources for the production process and packaging and simultaneously, enhance the positive impacts, which are the healthy benefits for our consumers, generate jobs and reinforce regional development.
According to this, we develop strategies that will take us to the improvement of life quality for all of our important social groups, with our main focus being in our employees and their families, and in second place but with adequate focus, in the people from the regions where the company’s work take place.
The priority work lines for the two main groups of population are related with projects to support education and the culture, recreation and venture, because we believe that this is the way to open opportunities and empower each person.
FOUNDATION || AGRÍCOLA HIMALAYA
The Agricola Himalaya Foundation, which is sponsored by the company and shareholders, work for the communities progress and taking care of the environment, supporting processes in areas of education, recreation, culture, community business and ecology.
We cover the area where the company has influence, especially in the recovery of the high and medium basins of the Bitaco river, one of the most biodiversity zones in the world and a great producer of water, a project that actively involves the community in the region.
EMPLOYEE FUND || AGRÍCOLA HIMALAYA – FONAGRÍCOLA
The Agricola Himalaya Employees Fund was constituted in 1999 with the following main objectives for the employees: Create a money savings culture and facilitate access to credit loans Within a framework of solidarity, the employees of Agrícola Himalaya and especially the collaborators with lower income levels, which do not have an easy access to the National Financial System, could improve their living standards.
Throughout these 18 years, the Agricola Himalaya Employees Fund has become to a solid entity, thanks to the responsible and balanced management; it has the necessary liquidity to easily meet the demand for loans and also generates profit that allows the revaluation of contributions, which keeps the value of money from savings over time. Additionally, the Fund’s finances have allowed it to grant education, calamities and vacations aids for its members, as well as other benefits such as gifts and training.
The Fund has several lines of loans, among which housing and education stand out, in which preferential rates are handled, as those are considered as an investment for the future.
In the articulated work between the Company, the Foundation and the Employees Fund, the last one also provides resources for the “Marichú de Llano” scholarship program, which is actually supporting the professional studies of 16 young students from the Bitaco region.
REPORT SUSTAINABILITY
Since 2016 the company´s plan for sustainable growth was established in a supportive plan shown in the three pillars mentioned above.
