THE National Agricultural Marketing and Development Corporation (Namdevco) has partnered with Prestige Holdings Ltd to increase capacity in the corporation's food-basket initiative.

A release from Namdevco said it has been allowed use of Prestige's cold-storage refrigerated trucks and that this public-private partnership would ensure transport efficiencies and mobilise Prestige employees, specifically drivers and loaders, while restaurants are closed.

Namdevco began distributing food baskets on May 7, to the 41 MP's offices throughout the country.

To date, 50,000 food baskets including fresh produce, two locally processed chickens and half a dozen eggs have been delivered, with roughly 25,000 families benefiting.

Namdevco CEO Nirmalla Debysingh-Persad said the corporation wanted to thank the management team at Prestige Holdings Ltd "for being a good corporate citizen as this plays an important part of the success of the company,"

Prestige is the local franchise holder for brands such as KFC, Pizza Hut, Subway, TGIF and Starbucks. Its branded trucks were put into service on Wednesday to help transport the food baskets.

Over the next few weeks, an additional 25,000 families in all 41 constituencies, who are not receiving support from the Ministry of Social Development, food card or other support programmes, will receive these baskets.

“Against a background of limited resources, innovative public-private partnerships that bring together businesses and Government are increasingly important for improving productivity and making an impact,” Debysingh-Persad said.

The food basket programme is carded to continue till September to meet the needs of citizens who have been economically affected by public health restrictions on businesses and jobs due to the pandemic.

Namdevco is sourcing all produce, eggs and chickens locally for the programme.

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