Sakata, a committed seed company

The very nature of Sakata’s business supports sustainable development. Through its research programmes, the group is responding to global challenges by providing farmers with vegetable varieties that consume less water and inputs, and are adapted to climatic variations.

And, of course, providing yields to feed the world’s growing population. In this way, Sakata is contributing to the availability of healthy food, in sufficient quantity and at a reasonable cost.

In addition to its sustainable core business, Sakata has chosen to adopt the collective plan of action set out by the United Nations to meet global development challenges.

Sakata’s commitment: to align with three of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals:

goal 2: zero hunger
goal 8: decent work and economic growth
goal 13: climate action

Zero hunger:
helping farmers

Sakata contributes to providing food for local populations – particularly in countries facing challenges – through a number of initiatives aimed at smallholder farmers in the Middle East and Africa:

training to help farmers improve their farming practices
partnership with the NGO Fair Planet to help identify the best-yielding hybrid vegetable varieties, through in-depth selection trials in Tanzania, Ethiopia and soon Rwanda.

Zero hunger:
health through vegetables

Eating vegetables contributes to better health. A statement confirmed by the World Health Organization.

In Spain, Sakata is working to promote vegetable consumption among consumers:

Sakata initiated the Mas Broccoli project now co-managed by numerous players in the food chain. Objective: to promote the exceptional nutritional qualities of broccoli.
Sakata has launched Love Klabaza, a project in partnership with growers to promote butternut consumption in Spain.
Because good nutrition needs to be learned, Sakata has created La Pandi, an educational project designed to familiarize the youngest children with vegetables using age-appropriate tools such as: school visits, personified vegetables, cartoons, etc.
Additionally, Sakata has worked with VegPower on a project to promote butternut consumption to children in the United Kingdom. Veg Power is a UK not-for-profit dedicated to getting people to eat more vegetables.

Zero hunger:
donations to local communities

Sakata donates seeds and vegetables in South Africa.

It has donated a large variety of institutions:

schools, hospitals, soup kitchens, care facilities for the elderly and local communities that were in difficulty during the Covid19 pandemic or during periods of high inflation.

Decent work
and economic growth

Sakata contributes to the economic sustainability of its farming partners:

by providing farmers with quality vegetable varieties to feed local populations, Sakata contributes to the long-term viability of their farms
by working with local farmers to produce its seeds, Sakata contributes to revitalising the local economy.

Decent work:
including in-house!

Throughout the world, including the EMEA region, Sakata creates a healthy, fulfilling working environment.

What does this mean?

fair recruitment and work practices: non-discrimination, employment of juniors and seniors…
creation of a caring work environment: integration programme over several months, right to disconnect, quality of life workshops…
fair remuneration: for example, in South Africa, Sakata pays employees more than the national minimum wage so that they can support themselves and their families.

Climate action in internal farming practices

All Sakata sites in the EMEA zone incorporate good environmental practices to reduce energy and resource consumption.

In terms of agricultural practices:

drip irrigation to reduce water wastage,
rainwater recovery for irrigation,
reuse of plant water after disinfection by UV lamp,
use of specific networks for appropriate treatment of waste,
use of sheep and chicken manure,
transformation of waste generated by seed production into compost that can be used to improve the organic matter content of soils,
installation of low-temperature heating systems for plants in greenhouses.

Climate protection
initiatives at our sites

Sakata carries out various actions at its sites aimed at protecting the environment, some of which are initiated by employees.

Selective sorting of waste (glass, paper, cups, etc.), recycling of computers by resale to employees at reduced prices or recovery by specialised companies, rainwater recovery for gardens, installation of solar panels, electric company vehicles, provision of electric bicycles, carpooling, installation of a chemical waste recycling plant, etc.