Elevating rural living standards through Crysbro’s Praja Aruna
Sri Lanka’s leading fully-integrated poultry producing giant Crysbro is committed to its novel ‘Praja Aruna’ housing project, launched in 2012 to renovate and build houses for the company’s most deserving employees who tirelessly work while residing in rural regions.
According to the Department of Census and Statistics, 77 percent of the country’s population resides in rural areas, and most often, economic activities in these areas are centred on the primary sector, including agriculture, livestock and fisheries.
Thus, the predominant human activities in rural areas involve the production of food, fibre and other raw materials, proving the contribution of rural residents to be significant in terms of food supply to the growing population and provision of raw materials for industries. However, despite their major contribution to FMCG supply chains in the primary stage, many rural households lack basic amenities of life, such as housing, drinking water and electricity.
In that light, Crysbro, since the inception of its Praja Aruna project, has amplified its focus and interest in providing an enhanced standard of living to deserving, socio-economically disadvantaged employees. To date, the project has facilitated 84 renovations and 34 new houses which are built and completed.
“Our commitment to improving the living standards of employees who reside in rural areas comes with no hesitation, as our Praja Aruna programme has proven for almost a decade now. Having carried out over 4,500 donations and directly supporting 250 people in addition to our contributions to rural housing development, we are confident that we will not leave behind any disadvantaged employee who deserves a humane living condition,” commented Crysbro Senior Marketing Manager Amores Sellar.
Crysbro’s Praja Aruna housing project is one under six pillars of the company’s approach to CSR, which focuses on enhancing and uplifting the living standards of its employees. All new houses that are built are entirely funded by CRYSBRO, while all home renovations conducted under the Praja Aruna project is funded by the CRYSBRO Employee Welfare Society.
A selection of deserving employees to benefit from the initiative is done by first calling in applications, which are then reviewed based on structured selection criteria which consider the length of tenure of each employee, performance contribution, living conditions and status of current accommodation.
About Crysbro
Established in 1972 with just 100 chicks and a deep desire to be a market leader in quality and innovation, Crysbro has emerged as Sri Lanka’s first and most sophisticated, fully vertically-integrated poultry producer. Its operations span grandparent and parent farms, hatcheries, broiler farms and feed mills. This thriving ‘Farm-to-Fork’ concept has formed the core of its success. In turn, it has yielded unprecedented benefit for numerous stakeholders including direct and indirect employees, outgrowers, domestic maize farmers and ultimately Sri Lankan consumers.
