Cargill and Rizq join forces to combat food insecurity in Pakistan
Karachi, January 13, 2021: Being a nation of agricultural abundance, food insecurity continues to be a major challenge across Pakistan. Cargill and Rizq have come together with the shared goal of ending hunger across Pakistan by setting up a food bank network. A groundbreaking ceremony was held today for the first-ever Cargill RizqBank, in Lyari, Karachi - one of the largest food insecure communities in Pakistan. The Rizq Cargill ecosystem will work to create a food secure Lyari, reduce food wastage and will be able to serve about 200,000 meals in the community, annually.
The RizqBank will offer four key services to help eradicate food insecurity and end hunger in slum communities across the country. This includes RizqDaig, distribution of food within the community, RizqRation, identifying and delivering monthly food supplies to food insecure families and establishing a community center, RizqBachao, collecting, storing and distributing excess food to low-income families and Rizq Future Generation Program, mobilizing youth from schools and universities to support activities of zero waste and zero hunger. This model once established in Lyari, Karachi will also be replicated at key locations across the nation through this partnership. This will serve as a blueprint for stakeholders in the food ecosystem to come together and create self-sustaining communities.
In phase two, the program will progress towards setting up the RizqXchange, a collaborative initiative to mobilize resources through a network of RizqBanks. The Rizq Xchange is enabled by ShareRizq platform, cloud-foodbanking technology that connects people who want to donate food, with distributors that are giving food to beneficiaries in real-time.
Advancing its corporate purpose of nourishing communities in a safe, responsible and sustainable way, Cargill has contributed seed funding and will assist Rizq with technical advisory services to efficiently create and run the food bank operations. Cargill employees will also engage as volunteers at the Cargill RizqBank. Rizq will manage the on-ground deployment and operations of this innovative model. They will also provide the overall strategy for deployment of the Cargill RizqBank and Rizq Xchange as part of this initiative.
“Around 100 million people in Pakistan continue to face food insecurity, which is about 50% of the total population. Being an agriculturally resource-rich country, such prevalence of hunger is unnecessary and unacceptable. This initiative is in line with our global commitment to fight hunger and curb the menace of malnutrition in countries where we operate. We are proud to partner with Rizq for this initiative and take this mission forward,” said Imran Nasrullah, country president, Cargill Pakistan.
“Pakistan is one of the richest breadbaskets in the world, yet she continues to struggle to sustain herself. Such prevalence of hunger, despite the abundance of resources highlights stark issues in our food system and the reasons due to which such issues come to exist. Any resolve to end hunger not only needs to be systemic but more importantly needs to be based on human values. We are proud that a partner like Cargill has come on board and is helping us in our mission to create a hunger free Pakistan, " said Qasim Javaid Khan, chief operating officer, Rizq.
About Cargill
Cargill’s 155,000 employees across 70 countries work relentlessly to achieve our purpose of nourishing the world in a safe, responsible and sustainable way. Every day, we connect farmers with markets, customers with ingredients, and people and animals with food they need to thrive.
We combine 155 years of experience with new technologies and insights to serve as a trusted partner for food, agriculture, financial and industrial customers in more than 125 countries. Side-by-side, we are building a stronger, sustainable future for agriculture. For more information, visit Cargill.com and our News Center.
About Cargill in Pakistan
Cargill started its operations in Pakistan in 1984. Today it has business interests in refined oils, animal feed, grains & oilseeds, cotton, sugar and metals. Cargill is one of the largest suppliers of palm oil and soybeans and cocoa powder to Pakistan. With its head office in Karachi, Cargill currently employs 50 people in Pakistan.
About Rizq
Rizq is a people-powered social exchange to sustain human life to fulfill true potential. It aims to replace the vices within our systems to virtues, of Sharing, Favor and Compassion, to create self-sustaining neighborhoods, communities and life on earth. Housing a network of food banks and on ground partner nonprofits, called the Rizq FoodXChange, we identify food insecure people and provide them with nutritious and stable supplies of food. This network is enabled and financed by a National Consortium of Stakeholders and is powered and championed by the youth of Pakistan.
To date Rizq has been able to distribute more than 10 Million meals, collectively has saved up to more than 1 Million KG’s of excess food which consequently has been distributed amongst the most destitute people and lastly has provided sustenance to more than 50,000 families through our RizqBanks and partner organizations.
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