Agricultural commercialisation project bearing fruits: Mchinji Co-op procures K12 million dairy feed machinery

Agricultural Commercialisation Project (Agcom) funding of K19 250,000 to Mchinji Dairy Farmers Cooperative  has been used to procure three machines worth K12 million to be used to make feed for dairy cattle.

Mchinji Dairy Cooperative Chair Clement Mayeso Banda confirmed to Nyasa Times about the procurement, saying the Cooperative is expected to grow on its output as compared to the current output.

He said the Cooperative has been spending more on dairy feed.

“What was happening is that we have been spending a lot in procurement of feed for our dairy animals. Now we will be making the feed ourselves and this is a big achievement,” he said.

Banda said the group worked hard and managed to contribute  K9 million making the total amount to K28 Million.

He has since encouraged others to form Cooperatives , contribute 10 percent and access the grant from World Bank funded Agcom.

Agcom national coordinator Ted Nakhumwa commented:  “Let me commend Mchinji for the what they are doing. It’s true they have  bought equipment and have contributed money for the second trank, this is a welcome development.”

Nakhumwa said its sad that some people up to now intend to doubt the importance of 10 percent contribution.

He said the organisation has agremetns with 40 off-takers to increase commercialisation of selected agriculture value chain products.

An off-taker agreement is a deal between a producer and a buyer that formalises a buyer’s intention to purchase a certain amount of the producer’s future output.

Ministry of Agriculture, in collaboration with the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism, are implementing a $95 million (about K70 billion) Agcom project with a loan from the World Bank. The project will be implemented countrywide for six years from 2018-2023.

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