The power of cooperatives in transforming lives is a tired story albeit others not taking it seriously. For those however, believing in cooperatives they are raking massive returns.
And such is the story of people from Machinga who are making a fortune out of cooperatives.
Harriet Smart a 32 year old woman from Mpheta Village, Traditional Authority Mposa in Machinga started rice farming in 2000 and has been farming on a half acre plot at Domasi Scheme.
Before joining a cooperative, Smart says, she could get between 10 to 11 bags of rice. But that is the story of the past. After joining a cooperative and started benefiting from trainings organized by her cooperatives, her harvests jumped to 18 bags from the same piece of land.
“I am a member of Domasi Cooperative and through Farmers Union of Malawi – FUM I was trained on how to treat Rice from the Nursery.” She said. “ In the past we could use the whole 20 litre pail of rice at the Nursery but after trainings FUM organized for us, we use only 1kg of rice and I harvest 18 bags of rice from the same half acre of land.”
Concurring with Smart is Gift Lazaro, Domasi Cooperative Chairperson who said farmers are benefiting more from their toil than they used to do before joining cooperatives.
Lazaro said his cooperative has a warehouse where they store their rice as they wait for good prices, a thing which could not be possible without a cooperative.
“In the past, everyone could sell their rice to vendors. Now that we are a cooperative, we store our rice in a warehouse waiting for good prices and the market itself is coordinated. Most of the time we sell to Rab processors, k500 per kg for kilombero rice and sometimes k400 for mtupatupa rice” said Lazaro.
Being in a Cooperative has also helped the farmers to get loans and grants.
Brighton Mussa is a Soybean farmer and also Vice Chairperson of Tukamulane Corporative in Namwera Village, Mangochi District. Mussa says his cooperative managed to get a K72 million grant from the United States of America Development Fund.
“Our Cooperative has 513 members, Farmers Union of Malawi (FUM) helped us with training and we became organized so we employed a Manager, Accountant and an Advisor, all of these officers play different roles in making sure our Cooperative moves to greater heights,” said Mussa
He adds: “It is our dream to add value to our Soybean. Our wish is to have a factory and start producing milk, cooking oil, Soya Pieces and create jobs for our people here.”
But how are these Cooperatives helping in transforming the lives of farmers from an individual perspective?
Chimara Walusa is a Cotton lead Farmer for Rivirivi EPA in Balaka and according to him he invested k450 000 in the previous cotton farming season. His investment gained 3-fold as he raked K1.7 million at the end of the season.
Also sharing his success story, Dymex Funsani a Cotton Farmer Association National Secretary and also Chairperson for Rivirivi Cotton Farmer’s Association said he has been able to build 5 houses, all of them rented out, a big house which he is living in, an agro-dealer shop, and he is paying school fees for his children.
The farmers are benefiting from expertise of numerous organizations that provided the trainings and asked them to form cooperatives.
Civil Society Agriculture Network (CISANET) is implementing a project called Strengthening Inclusive Agriculture Sector Growth and Sustainable Natural Resource Governance in Malawi.
The Project is being implemented in collaboration with Malawi Confederation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (MCCCI) and the Centre for Environmental Policy and Advocacy (CEPA) with support from the USAID through Farmers Union of Malawi (FUM) that links with the Farmers directly.
Pamela Kuwali is CISANET Executive Director and according to her, the main objective of the project is to improve agriculture productivity in line with National Agriculture Investment Plan (NAIP) and National Agriculture Policy.
“Our role as CISANET is to make sure that the Policy objectives are being translated into Action at the local level, if everything that is in the National Agriculture Policy is translated into action there will a huge transformation. if we are able to produce it means Malawi would never go hungry again.”
“Malawi will have a lot of food, not just maize but a variety of food. Implementing the Agriculture policy is a game changer,” said Kuwali.
To make sure that there is continuity in what the Farmers are being taught, thematic groups were formed in the Districts where the project is being implemented, to ensure that other Organizations follow in the same lane when they bring other projects to the Districts.
Edward Mwale, Chairperson for Agriculture thematic group in the Balaka CSO Network said the idea has helped a lot as farmers no longer lose track of what they were taught when a new organization comes.
The project that is being implemented in seven districts namely, Balaka, Machinga, Mangochi, Lilongwe, Mchinji, Dowa and Ntchisi, started in December 2019 and it is expected to end in November 2022.