Rabat – A group of companies in Morocco’s food industry will donate millions of food products to authorities, in a show of solidarity in the national response to COVID-19.
“As part of the momentum of national solidarity and to help families in difficult situations in the current context, Centrale Danone, Lesieur Cristal, Ain Saiss, Agro Juice Processing, Sultan, and Dari have decided to make several millions of food products available to the authorities free of charge,” said a statement from the group of participating companies.
Donated products include some staples for Moroccan pantries, such as milk, oil, bottled water, sugar, tea, juice, and couscous.
“In this unprecedented crisis that we are going through, it is more than ever important to show solidarity,” said the companies.
“We wanted, through this initiative, to express our support for the families in difficult situations,” they added.
The initiative is not the first of its kind. Earlier this week, mineral water company Oulmes pledged to provide Moroccan public hospitals with one million bottles of water each week, until the end of the health emergency state.
Beyond donations of goods, Moroccan philanthropists, businesspeople, and public and private institutions have made considerable financial contributions to Morocco’s Special Fund for the Management and Response to COVID-19.
One week after its creation by King Mohammed VI, the fund’s budget more than doubled thanks to the contributions, its resources growing from $1 billion to over $2.5 billion.
The fund will cover all the necessary health infrastructure upgrades for the fight against the novel coronavirus. It will also assist the economic sectors most affected by the pandemic, along with citizens who were forced to suspend income-generating activities.
At the time of writing, Morocco has one of the highest infection rates in Africa with 225 confirmed COVID-19 cases, including seven recoveries and six fatalities.
