Climate change continues to affect water availability across the world and as a provider of fresh produce we need to carefully manage this resource to secure future production.

70% of all available fresh water is used in the agricultural sector globally. It is anticipated that there will be a 40% shortfall in global fresh water supply by 2030, the reality being that producers around the world will not have access to this essential resource. Water Stewardship is therefore a core focus of Dole South Africa’s sustainability activities.

A case in point: Long-term plan for saving water

Our Western Cape farms are building a large dam to gather water during the rainy winter months. In winter, the Hermon area is a catchment area and water can be gathered from streams and rivers that would normally run away without being put to use. Due to be completed within the next 24 months, the dam will be able to hold 1,5 million cubic metres of water, which will supplement the supply from the farms’ existing dam to irrigate the vineyards and citrus crop.

Our approach of Reducing, Reusing and Recycling is applied across all our entities and our team is committed to understanding the various forms of waste and delivering initiatives to generate less waste with creative ways of reducing our footprint. On our farms, waste is dealt with in a sustainable manner – we look at understanding the waste material before devising plans to dispose of this waste.

We believe that one of the best ways in which we can show our commitment to protecting our environment is by starting to capture details of our carbon emissions. Our aim will be to reduce emissions from our operations to secure our long-term future – not only in South Africa, but also across the globe. We will start by capturing data for our own and leased farms. This will be done via the SIZA Digital Record Keeping Tool.

At a global level, Dole plc received a B rating in the Climate Change category from the Carbon Disclosure Project in 2022 and reported a 4% reduction in carbon footprint compared with its baseline for Scope 1 and 2. Dole plc remains committed to setting even more ambitious targets for 2030 to reduce emissions and align with Science Based Target Initiative (SBTi) guidelines.