By: Bakinam Khaled
B.TECH, Egypt's leading integrated omnichannel retailer and consumer finance platform, in partnership with the Egyptian Food Bank, reaped the fruits of their 'Supporting and Empowering Small-Scale Farmers in Aswan to Adapt to Climate Change' program, inaugurated last June, as part of B.TECH’s corporate social responsibility to economically empower small-scale farmers, offer job opportunities for women, and promote sustainable social and environmental development.
Inaugurated in Edfu and Al Gaafra areas, the project has begun yielding benefits after planting and growing over 10,000 palm trees to mitigate the risks of climate change for smallholder farmers in Aswan. The project has empowered 500 economically disadvantaged small-scale farmers by providing them with more sustainable livelihoods, ensuring economic and food security, creating job opportunities, particularly for women, and striving to reduce unemployment while increasing Egyptian families' income and stability.
In this context, Dr. Mahmoud Khattab, CEO and Chairman of B.TECH, said “At B.TECH, we are keen on evolving our commitment to support and develop the community year after year. Accordingly, we prioritize implementing sustainable projects that have a positive impact on society by creating job opportunities for farmers, economically empowering women, and achieving self-sufficiency in producing certain crops, contributing to the national economy.”
He added, “Together with the Egyptian Food Bank, we reap the fruits of a long-term partnership sharing the same ideas and objectives of achieving food and economic security for the most needy societies, embodying the true meaning of civil development.
Building on the great success achieved in Edfu and Al Gaafra, we plan to expand the program to support and empower smallholder farmers in different geographical areas around the Republic while diversifying agricultural crops according to the features of each region."
Furthermore, Mr. Mohsen Sarhan, CEO of the Egyptian Food Bank, stated, “We are delighted at the positive impact we are achieving in collaboration with a renowned organization such as B.TECH, where our development goals are united in serving the community and supporting the neediest families, as we have been providing food security to the deserving for 20 years now. Today we reap the benefits of this productive partnership with the success of the 'Supporting and Empowering Small-Scale Farmers in Aswan to Adapt to Climate Change' program, which goes beyond providing food for families in need, to establishing sustainable communities with their own projects.” He added, “This is done by increasing agricultural landscape, guaranteeing adequate promotion for small farmers' goods, integrating them into food supply chains and transforming them into major suppliers, and mitigating climate change concerns, all of which are aligned with Egypt's 2030 sustainability vision."
The project entails obtaining the final products from farmers and providing needed assistance at various phases, starting from purchasing and distributing fertilizers and pesticides to training and improving their abilities in post-harvest activities aimed at preserving crop quality, through sorting and packaging units to ensure a high-quality final product. down to the final stages of grounding dryers and proper and hygienic packaging processes, transforming agricultural crops into high-quality end products, all while attaining self-sufficiency in fulfilling annual demands through a strategic service product for food security.
Subsequently, the project effectively integrated the targeted groups into food supply chains, transforming them into major suppliers, increasing agricultural areas, raising national output, and achieving B.TECH's primary community-wide sustainable development goals. This includes empowering working women by allocating them to different roles in post-harvest activities at sorting and packaging stations operated by the Egyptian Food Bank.
