Accra, May 29, GNA – Callighana Company Limited, a total agriculture solution company, on Friday donated Personal Protective Equipment worth GH¢60,000.00 to the Ministry of Food and Agriculture to aid in the COVID-19 fight.
The company also presented farming equipment to the Ministry to complement its efforts in equipping farmers with modern farming technology to boost agriculture productivity across the country.
The items were to be distributed to farmers to help protect them against the COVID-19 and harmful chemicals, as well as equip them with the right farming tools to improve yield.
Items donated included 2,500 nose masks, 600 hand sanitisers, 10,000 hand gloves and five Cifarelli Motorised Sprayer.
Mr Dominic Duku, the Marketing and Commercial Manager of Callighana, said as an agrochemical import and distribution company whose biggest stakeholders were farmers ensuring that farmers remained healthy was a major priority.
He said the company worked directly with farmers, hence the donation to ensure they stayed safe and improve on their yield.
It would engage with partners in the distribution chain through which they could reach the remote farming communities, he said.
Touching on the impact of the COVID-19 on the agriculture sector, Mr Duku said like many sectors of the economy, the sector had been hard hit, particularly the distribution chain.
He said due to the COVID-19 many farmers and distributors were unable to travel far to obtain inputs required to boost productivity, adding that with measures put in place by government and corporate entities to contain the pandemic, the sector would soon return to vibrancy.
“We are aware of the possible distribution challenges as farmers are unable to travel very far to buy their inputs and so what we have done is to increase our foot prints in other areas,” Mr Duku said.
“Besides we are also looking at the local agrochemical shops in the various villages and we are supplying them through our network of distributors and sales team.”
Dr Nurah Gyiele, the Minister of State in charge of Agriculture, who received the items, expressed gratitude to the company and called on other corporate organisations to emulate the gesture.
He said farmers, especially the aged, were skeptical in joining others on the farm due to fear of contracting the virus since they were susceptible to it.
Dr Gyiele said the items would, therefore, reassure the farmers of their safety.
Callighana is a subsidiary of UPL, a global importer and distributor of agrochemicals, bio-solutions, crop protection and climate-smart technology developers.
GNA