Featured | Nov 23,2019
Heineken Breweries, one of the largest producers of beer in the country, has spent 1.4 million Br to support 1,400 households encountering economic difficulties due to the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in Addis Abeba, Harar and Bedele.
The support includes five litres of cooking oil, five kilograms of flour, five packages of pasta, and five kilograms of rice. The support packages cost the company 1,200 Br on average for each household.
Out of the total beneficiaries, 800 of them are in the capital, while the remaining 600 households are in Harar and Bedele. The company provided support to beneficiaries that were selected by the weredasand regional towns.
The government has also identified 30 million people as vulnerable groups requiring food support due to the spread of the virus. It approved a supplementary budget to provide food support for these vulnerable groups.
Five hundred of the beneficiaries of Heineken's giving are from Akaki Qality District living in the Qilinto area where one of the three Heineken plants is located. The Qilinto plant started operations in July 2014 and has an annual technical production capacity of three million hectolitres with more than 200 employees.
On June 3, 2020, the company handed over packages to 100 households, while the remaining 400 will be supplied with food items at the food bank that was established by the Addis Abeba City Administration.
The 500 beneficiaries were selected from the 10,000 people that were picked for food assistance, according to Belay Demissie, CEO of Wereda 09 of Akaki Qality District, which has set up 18 food banks.
Britu Bulbula, a 40-year-old mother of three, was one of the beneficiaries from Akaki Qality District. Britu's leg was hurt while she was working at a factory.
"The support is very vital for my family and me since I don't work due to my leg injury," she said.
Heineken distributed food items for 100 residents in the Abinet area of Ledeta District, which is currently under a partial lockdown due to the higher number of confirmed COVID-19 cases. As of Friday, May 5, 2020, a total of 191 cases were reported in Lideta District, the third-highest number of cases in a single area after Gulele and Addis Ketema, which has 392 cases.
Two weeks ago, the company handed out 60,000 surgical masks, 9,000 bottles of sanitiser, and food items to residents in Ledeta District in the capital, as well as in Jimma, Gambella, Arbaminch, Jinka and Kombolcha. The donations total 1.9 million Br, 1.8 million of which came from the coffers of Heineken, while its distributors in these towns covered the remainder.
In addition, the company invested 550,000 Br to set up hand-washing stations in areas with high amounts of traffic, including Merkato, Asko, Akaki and Megenagna. It also distributed 50,000 packages of soap in the capital, Bedele and Harar. The company also donated three million Birr to the Addis Abeba City Administration at the end of March.
Access, availability, consumption and sustainability are the four major pillars of food security, according to Messay Mulugeta (PhD), an associate professor of socioeconomic development, food security & environmental studies at Addis Abeba University.
Heineken's support will address the first three pillars of food security, which are essential to the beneficiaries, according to Messay.
"But it doesn't ensure the sustainability of food security," he said.
The country needs to have strong foundations to assure the sustainability of food security, Messay recommended.
PUBLISHED ON
Jun 07,2020 [ VOL
21 , NO
1050]
Featured | Nov 23,2019
Commentaries | Sep 26,2021
Fortune News | Dec 12,2020
View From Arada | Dec 11,2020
Commentaries | Feb 08,2020
Radar | Feb 01,2020
Radar | May 08,2021
Radar | Nov 09,2019
Fortune News | Jun 10,2021
November 27 , 2021
Against my will, I have witnessed the most terrible defeat of reason and the most sa...
November 13 , 2021
Plans and reality do not always gel. They rarely do in a fast-moving world. Every act...
October 16 , 2021 . By HAWI DADHI
Residing in a country with no capital market, an organised marketplace for trading se...
August 28 , 2021 . By HAWI DADHI
The streets of Addis Abeba are as varied as they are many, although too many of them have yet to be named. From the narrow alleyways of the...
May 14 , 2022
Diana Yohannes is one of those actively engaging in social media platforms with her T...
May 7 , 2022
The Ethiopian Economic Association (EEA) recently proposed the formation of a macroec...
April 30 , 2022
There is no ambiguity in the UNDP's assessment of Ethiopia’s economic performance a...
April 22 , 2022
Most African countries top the list when ranked on the prevalence of conflict, food i...
Loading your updates...
Put your comments here