Meet Makala Seed Producing and Marketing Cooperative

Having realized that their region receives erratic rains year in and year out, small scale farmers of Kunyinda community in Traditional Authority Ngabu in Chikwawa discovered that their fate and food production in particular does not rely on maize alone. They had to find a crop that would save them. They invested in Sorghum and millet instead.

In view of this, they requested World Vision to help them get back to the basics. They wanted to produce more sorghum, millet and other crops that are much more resilient to weather shocks.

Ever since they started production, the community realized that it was producing a surplus that had no market within its community apart from the vendors who usually bought from them at lower prices.

The next thing for them was specialization. This prompted them to engage in seed multiplication with emphasis on millet, sorghum and pigeon peas out of which they are making money to support their families and daily livelihoods.

In 2009 World Vision worked with them to establish farmer associations that ventured into seed production following trainings from Bvumbwe research station.

In the long run, this prompted the birth of Makala Produce and Marketing Cooperative, established in June 2013 to spearhead production as well as marketing, with support from World Vision.

“We only had associations that we formed with support from World Vision but we wanted a cooperative that would bring us all together and improve our bargaining power”, says Earnest Stephano, Chairperson for the cooperative.

Since its birth, the Cooperative has established itself as a reliable supplier of seed in the Shire Valley and is doing business with reputable organizations like CADECOM, Eagles Relief, World Vision, Local Farmers as well as Vendors.

Having capitalized on World Vision’s technical and monitory support in the first year, Makala Cooperative is now an independent entity which for the past two years has been responsible for engaging seed inspectors from Bvumbwe Research Station and paid all related costs that usually include inspection, certification, allowances and transport.