Trust is the keyword - New project in Malawi

AFC starts a two-year GIZ-KULIMA MIERA project in Malawi to form an Inclusive Contract Farming (ICF) Advisory Facility.

The primary role for the Advisory Facility will be the provision of technical advice on ICF to KULIMA MIERA’s partner businesses. Partners’ businesses are, for example, processors, aggregators or traders of agricultural commodities and they are operating in the value chains of cassava, groundnuts, soybeans, sunflower, macadamia, rice and chili/paprika.

An important role of the Advisory Facility is to build and strengthen relationships with the business partners. This will be essential to understand their needs and to provide an ongoing, demand-driven technical support over time.

Trust is the keyword. Contract farming in Malawi is in general accompanied by mistrust from both companies and farmers. It will be one of the key challenges for the Advisory Facility to overcome this obstacle, identify success stories and promote the mutual benefits inclusive contract farming has to offer.  

Finally, the centrepiece of the Advisory Facility’s work will be the education of contract farming trainers, who will be embedded in an advisory body. By doing so knowledge remains in Malawi and a constant supply of advice in a variety of contractual arrangements in the agricultural sector is ensured.

For more information, please contact Martin Gross (martin.gross [at] afci.de)