Sri Lanka’s leading fully-integrated poultry producing giant Crysbro
launched its ‘Praja Aruna’ initiative in 2012, with an aim to renovate and build houses for the
producer’s most deserving employees who tirelessly work while residing in rural regions in
the country.
Through this initiative, Crysbro is more focused and interested in facilitating a better
standard of living to deserving employees who are also at a socio-economic disadvantage.
The Praja Aruna initiative has helped complete over 84 renovations and 34 brand new
houses which were successfully developed.
The Census and Statistics Department states that 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.
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.
“For almost a decade, our Praja Aruna initiative has carried out over 4,500 donations and
directly supports 250 people in addition to our contributions to rural housing development.
We are committed to ensuring that all our disadvantaged employees are facilitated with
humane living conditions,” 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.
