Karachi, Pakistan (September 2, 2021): Cargill, the world’s premier agriculture and food processing corporation, has collaborated with Rizq to establish Pakistan’s first-ever Cargill-RizqBank in Lyari Karachi. The Cargill-Rizq ecosystem will work to create a food secure community, reduce food wastage and serve about 200,000 meals annually in the community.
The RizqBanks are storage facilities to save and channelize fresh and dry food. It also empowers and educates the community members and partner agencies with training and workshops. It will contribute with its four key services, RizqDaig, RizqRation, RizqBachao and Rizq Future Generation Program to end food insecurity and hunger in the Lyari.
Under RizqDaiq, food will be distributed within the community on a daily basis. RizqRation will identify and deliver monthly food supplies to food-insecure families. The RizqBachao initiative looks into the collection, storage and distribution of excess food to low-income households. Lastly, the Rizq Future Generation Program, under which volunteer programs are deployed compromising of the youth from schools and universities to support activities of zero waste and a hunger-free Pakistan.
Commenting on the partnership, Imran Nasrullah, President, Cargill Pakistan, said, “Like many developing countries, Pakistan faces a food security crisis where millions of families go to bed hungry every day. The Covid19 pandemic has further exacerbated the situation to alarming levels. Cargill is proud to partner with Rizq in establishing the RizqBank ecosystem which will ensure that no family will ever have to go to sleep hungry.”
Phase Two of the program sees the establishment of the Rizq XChange which is a collaborative effort of different stakeholders to mobilize resources to create a hunger-free nation. The Rizq XChange, backed by its cloud-food banking technology, will connect a consortium of stakeholders which includes (but is not limited to) NGOs, corporations, schools, restaurants, hospitals, and universities as well as volunteer programs from all walks of society to reach verified beneficiaries in real-time through a nationwide network of RizqBanks.
Rizq XChange platform will be a true depiction of connectivity, measurable impact, and transparency of food philanthropy in Pakistan. The establishment of a RizqBank in Lyari, Karachi will effectively serve as a roadmap for interested stakeholders to come together and further create self-sustaining communities across the nation.
This model once established in Lyari, Karachi will also be cascaded at key locations nationwide through this partnership. The establishment of a RizqBank in Lyari, Karachi will effectively serve as a roadmap for interested stakeholders to come together and further create self-sustaining communities across the nation.
Expressing his opinion on the collaboration, CEO Rizq Mr. Musa Aamir said, “We are thankful to Cargill Pakistan for joining with Rizq on its mission to make a hunger-free Pakistan. This partnership has enabled our collective measures to reach broader communities and empower them with food security in a very short period of time. The day is not far when every household in Pakistan will be food-secure and no growth will be stunted.”