Mangochi Supremacy Livestock Cooperative Thrives with AGCOM Support
The cooperative has received a grant of MK211 million from AGCOM in tranches, which has helped it grow from 210 members to 253 members, including women, men, and youths.
Mangochi, Malawi-The Mangochi Supremacy Livestock Farms Cooperative in Malembo, Mangochi district, is greatly benefiting from the Agricultural Commercialization (AGCOM) Project, writes Maureen Kawerama.
The cooperative has received a grant of MK211 million from AGCOM in tranches, which has helped it grow from 210 members to 253 members, including women, men, and youths.
"We decided to form this cooperative with an of changing the people’s mindset here to consider goat-farming as another source of generating income for survival," said Simeon Harrison, chairperson of the cooperative.
The cooperative has used the grant to purchase 1,450 goats, distribute 900 goats to local farmers, purchase a 1.8-hectare piece of land for livestock farming, and install an irrigation plant scheme.
The cooperative is expecting to receive the remaining balance of the grant soon, which it will use to purchase a manure processing machine and a cold storage machine for meat processing.
"Out of two goats which I received from the Cooperative now I have 15 goats and the money that I get from my goats selling business I use to pay my children’s school fees, buy food, and other basic needs for my family," said Memory Mwanza, a beneficiary of the cooperative.
Chief Economist in the Ministry of Agriculture, Prisca Kachere, said that she is impressed with the progress the cooperative is making with support from the AGCOM Project.
"Am very much satisfied, farmers through Mangochi Supremacy Livestock Farming Cooperative are working hard and are making a lot of profits through their goat farming business so it’s a promising venture and if they can expand in terms of the goats that they have and also the numbers of the cooperative, they have a very big potential," Kachere said.
The Agricultural Commercialisation (AGCOM) Project is a Malawi Government Flagship programme for transforming smallholder agriculture from mostly Subsistence to Commercial.