Mzimba farmers urged to form cooperatives

Mzimba district director of agriculture, environment and natural resources Ezra Mbendera has urged farmers to form cooperatives and clubs to benefit from their agribusinesses.

Speaking on Wednesday at Jenda Trading Centre during the opening of a three-day Mzimba South District Agriculture Fair, he said most farmers fail to benefit from their farming business because they face buyers as individuals and they lose the bargaining power.

Said Mbendera: “Most buyers offer low prices when buying from farmers and the practice is common when they deal with individual farmers because the individual farmer lacks bargaining power.

“I appeal to farmers to form cooperatives and clubs. With one voice, they can bargain for better prices for their agricultural produce.”

M’Mbelwa District Council chairperson Mauso Nkhoma asked farmers to produce products of high standard.

“Substandard products attract poor prices as buyers always offer lower prices for poor quality products,” he said.

Mzimba South legislator Chamburanyina Jere (Malawi Congress Party) urged officials from the district’s agriculture office to set a database of cooperatives and their harvests for easy marketing.

“The database will enable potential buyers to know where and how much produce a particular cooperative or farmer is holding,” he said.

Makaka Cooperative member Lazarus Banda, whose cooperative trades in tomato, sweet potatoes and honey, commended the agriculture fair.

“We had the last fair in 2018 and with Covid-19, there hasn’t been any fair. This is welcome because it will give us a platform to meet buyers,” he said.

The fair is being held under the theme ‘Enhancing the productive alliance among smallholder farmers in the context of climate change’.