Bwanje valley rice group is located in the central region of Malawi at Mtakataka in Dedza district. They are producing packed rice as an OVOP project. As an OVOP group they received a Malawi Governmental Loan in 2005 in the form of a rice milling machine, from this assistance they are expecting to increase their production and sales of rice.

Our Main Products

Group Information

[Support from OVOP/JICA]
OVOP: Rice mill (MK 1.57 million), JICA: Supply of packages (plastic bags), marketing.
[Support from Other Organizations]
The Cooperative and its irrigation scheme were supported by Japanese Government's grant aid, JICA's long-term expert and JICA's senior volunteer. The JICA expert provided a Japan-made rice milling machine, a sealing machine and plastic bags.
[Contribution by members]
Every one of the Cooperative members contributed MK 500 as a capital, plus MK 500 as a water fee annually (the collection rate of the latter seems to be low)
[Support by District Assembly]
4 extension officers are supporting the Cooperative on a daily basis.
[Background]
The Cooperative has been managed under the strong initiative of an extension officer 'Irrigation Scheme Manager'.

Strength and Opportunities

[Human Resources]
The Cooperative is supported by extension officers in all stages of production. These officers are well educated and experienced.
[Materials]
Due to the well-developed irrigation scheme, the Cooperative members are able to expand paddy fields and increase rice production relatively easily, whenever good markets are identified.
[Product]
Kilombero Rice is a popular brand in Malawi and thus, it has price competitiveness. Moreover, since the Cooperative's grading, milling and packaging skills are better than those of other suppliers, customers are willing to pay a better price - 50% higher than other rice (Cooperative: MK180/kg, other suppliers: MK120/kg)
[Market]
The Cooperative is making efforts to find new customers by showing samples. In 2008, the Cooperative received orders for 10,807 MT.
[Quality Control and Sanitation]
Chief of the marketing committee is responsible for the quality control and sanitation. The Cooperative has applied for MBS, and thus is in the process of improving the sanitary condition based on MBS's guidelines (location of toilet, introduction of clean footwear, masks and working clothes, daily cleaning, eradication of rats by cats, etc.).
[Administration]
The Cooperative properly keeps its account book (although there seems to be some inconsistencies in numbers).

Challenges

[Human Resources]
The Cooperative is seemingly dependent too much on extension workers, since its managerial capacity is not well developed.
[Materials]
The Cooperative has often difficulties in paying to its members in due time, because payment from retailers of rice (supermarkets) tends to delay. As a result, Cooperative members are discouraged to sell rice to the Cooperative, and sell paddy rice to local shops or middlemen even the price is lower (MK 50/kg). In addition, the Malawian government is buying, for the purpose of food security, a large amount of rice throughout the country, raising the purchase price of paddy rice. Due to the Cooperative's poor purchasing capacity, the Cooperative will not be able to meet the orders of its customers in 2008; the Cooperative expects to be able to deliver approx. 2,000 MT.
[Distribution]
Due to the difficulty in procuring a sufficient amount of paddy rice and the lack of transport means, the Cooperative is not able to deliver the rice to its customers in due time. It is leading to a loss of price competitiveness. Since the transport cost is eroding its profitability, the Cooperative wishes to increase the price of the product to MK240/kg.