By Yamikani Yapuwa, Mana
Milk wastage due to power blackouts will now be a thing of the past for Mangunda Milk Bulking Group in Thyolo District as the grouping has received K107 million grant from Transforming Agriculture through Diversification and Entrepreneurship (TRADE) Programme to buy a solar power equipment.
Speaking after receiving the cheque on Friday at Thyolo District Council, Mangunda Milk Bulking Group Treasurer, Ellias Piringu, said the group loses K5 million monthly through rotten milk because of intermittent power supply at the bulking centre.
“We are grateful to TRADE Programme for giving us this grant to procure a solar powered system as well as mount a water tank.
“We always throw away milk because it is rotten due to power blackouts resulting in us losing a lot of money. The amount of milk that gets rotten every month is over K5 million,” said Piringu.
He hailed TRADE Programme for the gesture and appealed to other cooperatives to take advantage of the grants being given to improve their livelihoods.
District Commissioner for Thyolo, Hudson Kuphanga, urged the group to use the money for its intended purpose instead of directing the money to things that are not helpful.
TRADE Programme Grant Management Specialist, Andrew Chidothe, said they have managed to give out a total of K650 million to a number of cooperatives across the country.
He said the key issue is about profit and running cooperatives as business and that needs proper equipment to materialize.
“If a cooperative does not have enough power but has a lot of milk like the case in Thyolo, a lot of milk goes bad as such they will not be able to make profits and have access on the market.
“TRADE is intervening to make sure they have access to equipment so that they can be able to sustain themselves as cooperatives as well reaching out to other markets for their produce,” said Chidothe.
TRADE is a six year government of Malawi programme aimed at improving livelihoods of people living in rural areas through agri-business.
TRADE is supported by the International Fund for Agriculture (IFAD) and Opec Fund for International Development (OFID) to the tune of US$ 125.4 million.
The economy of Malawi is predominantly agriculture based. Agriculture accounts for 30% of GDP and generates over 80% of national export earnings.
The agriculture sector employs 64% of the country’s workforce and contributes to food and nutrition security.( Additional reporting by Malawi Voice)
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