By Mamadou Edrisa Njie
Agritech Enterprise, a Gambian-owned registered enterprise specialised in the supply of vast range of farm machinery, equipment and inputs, has on Thursday, 5th June, 2020, joined the ongoing crusade against the Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID19) by donating over 2000 face masks to the National Agricultural Land and Water Management Development Project (Nema) for onward distribution to its project beneficiary communities-farmers.
The Covid protective items meant for the farmers, were handed over to the Nema Project Director, Mr. Momodou L. Gassama, who commended the benefactors for the gesture, vowing that the facemasks will be distributed as agreed.
He acknowledged that his office’s working relationship with Agritech has been cordial, stating: “Agritech as a service provider for the project has been working with us for the past years, and they have honoured all the agreements we signed with them”.
The Nema Project Director underscored the timeliness of the donation, noting that farmers in rural areas need face masks to prevent themselves from COVID-19. Gassama is optimistic that with the supply of those face masks, the farmers they are working with would be protected from the virus. He opined that the only way to overcome COVID-19 is for their beneficiaries to protect themselves, and “this is the best way” for them to protect themselves.
Mr. Mohammed Kora, Proprietor of Agritech said that their donation to the Nema project is geared towards protecting the lives and livehoods of farmer beneficiaries.
According to him, Agritech is here to support Gambian farmers to improve their farming with the supply of their farming equipment, as he informed that the donation of face masks to Nema project beneficiaries is part of their social responsibility.
The Agritech boss intimated that his company would continue to plough back, as part of their social responsibility, to Gambians with more attention on farmers. Kora said the company is dealing in agro-machinery, agricultural inputs-fertilizer, seeds, and tools, but this year, they added the services of general construction, drilling of boreholes and installation, fencing of gardens, construction of cattle troughs and construction of garden storage facilities.
“Today is another great day in the annals of my company because we are giving back to the society,” he held, while commending the Nema project for the fruitful partnership, as well as the government of the Gambia through the Ministry of Agriculture.
The Programme Manager of Agritech, Mr. Lamin Badji said the donation was triggered by their interest to contribute their corporate social responsibility.
By distributing the face masks to farmers, Agritech intends to remember farmers in this worrying moment due to the Corona Virus pandemic, according to him.
