Success Story 3

Mikoko Rice Producers and Marketing Cooperative Society

History:

The cooperative has 57 members, of which 21 are women and 36 are men. It was registered in 2012 and is located in T/A Kawinga in Mbanira Village. Rice is the main crop, purchased from Mikoko Water Users Association, which has 56 hactares of land. In 2017 the cooperative received capacity building in business management training from UMODZI Consulting through the Smallholder Irrigation Value Addittion Project (SIVAP). In this process the group developed a business plan as a roadmap from 2017 to 2020.

Cooperative objectives

• Initiate excellent financial records systems, i.e cash book, expense register, commodity delivery, Quotation, Invoice, Inventory, sales register and fixed asset register
• Explore setting fixed prices for rice purchase from members and non-members
• Initiate value addition e.g. selling of packaged rice to Machinga and surrounding districts
• Increase membership to 200 for a period of 3 years
• Recruit cooperative manager and accountant for administrative tasks
• Purchase machinery for lending to the WUA e.g tiller to ease farm preparation

Challenges

• Lack of production capital
• Climate change
• Low commodity prices
• Pests and diseases

Achievements after UMODZI Consulting trainings

• Raised finances from membership fees and shares for increased purchase of rice from members
• Adopted smart agriculture like SRI to mitigate the risk of climate change
• Continuously conducts market research to identify high end and profit markets
• Conducts annual variety research to understand the varieties to be grown for the market
• Continuously mobilizes for new members through field days and village campaigns
• Affiliation to SIVAP Value Addition centre in Machinga with a big and efficient rice processing plant

Since 2009 UMODZI Consulting has been providing creative services in strategic planning, project development and implementation, Small and Medium enterprises Capacity development, marketing and market access development ( local and exports), Private and Public Partnerships (PPP) facilitation and development to more than 100 clients, delivering more than 200 successful projects. UMODZI Consultants have delivered tactical and strategic solutions with full time staff and a pool of qualified Associate Consultants forming a multidisciplinary team that is instantly productive.

The government of Malawi through Small Holder Irrigation and Value Addition Project (SIVAP) contracted UMODZI Consulting to run a 2 year project, for Capacity building of 17 Water Users Association and 17 Cooperatives spread across Salima, Nkhotakota, Machinga, Chikwawa, Nsanje, Thyolo, Nkhatabay and Karonga, offering business capacity development. The client was impressed with UMODZI Consulting's work. UMODZI Consulting coordinated with National and International experts in Climate change and Environmental management, maintenance and management of Irrigation schemes, Group Dynamics, Group by-Laws, Business Management and Crop Management. The groups are essentially adopted the strategies in the training sessions as seen below;