Malava Sub County Cooperatives Officer Mr. Ben Kangale has advised farmers to form cooperatives in order to attract a wider market.
“It is hard for an individual farmer to get a stable and reliable market for their product but as a group they can reap from economies of scale,” he told KNA.
He asked the residents undertaking all the value chains including maize, bananas, sweet potatoes, dairy, poultry and horticulture to come up with the cooperatives.
The officer observed that all the actors along the value chains right from the agro-producers, transporters, agro-processors and distributors should have common interest associations.
He added that the groups would be advantageous in the sense that it would be easy for them to access credit as financial institutions prefer to lend to groups than to individuals.
The cooperator explained that a lot of reforms had been implemented in the sector in terms of policy and regulation aimed at streamlining it.
By Sammy Mwibanda
