Tobacco Firm Donates Facilities Worth 17m/- to Mpanda Hospital

Source from:  THE GUARDIAN 05/18/2010

Tanzania Leaf Tobacco Company has donated blankets, bed sheets and mattresses worth 17.4m/- to Mpanda District Hospital in pursuance of its corporate responsibility programme. At a brief ceremony at the hospital premises on Thursday, TLTC managing director Paul Crossan and director of corporate affairs Richard Sinamtwa handed over to the hospital 300 bed sheets worth 2.1m/-, some 300 blankets worth 6.3m/- and 150 mattresses worth 9m/-. Crossan said the thrust of the firm's corporate responsibility programme was on education, water supply, health and environment, which were seen as key in its support to the community. He noted that implementation of TLTC's best practices policy in agriculture at Mpanda District dated back to many years when the company began doing business there. Sinamtwa meanwhile explained that the last 12 months had seen the firm implement the policy in the district to the tune of USD 50,000 with the distribution to farmers of 300 "money maker" irrigation pumps, the rehabilitation of Mishamo Hospital, the rehabilitation of Mishamo water pumps and mechanisation. He added that the company had altogether implemented CSR projects worth USD 528,965 in different parts of the country over the past year. "As tobacco sector stakeholders, we have a role to play in partnering with the government in enhancing crop productivity, ensuring loan repayment, return to the farmer, conservation of the environment, availability of ready markets and agro-processing," Crossan said at the presentation, where Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda was the chief guest. Sinamtwa said TLTC had contributed over USD1 million over the past year towards boosting crop growth in the country. In his remarks, Pinda hailed the firm for its commitment to social responsibility and underlined the importance of environmental conservation "which enables the use of alternative technologies to save trees". He also called for encouragement of competitions among tobacco buyers as a way of creating conditions for farmers to earn more from their crop harvests. Enditem