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Tinyadire Moyo Cooperative under Zuze village in the area of Traditional Authority Kachere in Dedza district on Friday distributed maize amounting to K1 million kwacha to 66 vulnerable households that were struggling to access the staple food in the area.
Speaking during the distribution exercise, the cooperatives chairperson, Daudi Maulana said as members of the same community they thought of reaching out with 15 kilogrammes of maize to each of the families after noticing that they were struggling to get food.
He said Tinyadire Moyo which focuses much on farm produce through farming, contributions and sales started as a group in 2019 with 30 members only but later grew into a cooperative which now has 300 members.
Maulana added that with support from the districts government stakeholders and Self Help Africa (SHA), they received business trainings which where facilitated by the department of Trade and Industry and managed to secure a business certificate in 2020.
“As a cooperative, we venture into different businesses and we have permanent markets where we sell our products. As of today, we supply our products to seven primary schools through World Food Program (WFP). So, as a way of appreciation, we thought of sharing our profits with those struggling and we plan to reach out to as many as possible, he said.
One of the beneficiaries, Alifosina Kalimo, expressed gratitude for the support saying she takes care of two orphans and she has been struggling to even get a kilogram of maize.
On his part, SHA Food Security and Resilience Coordinator, Barton Mwale, said it was a great success seeing the cooperative standing on their own in transforming their economic status and also supporting their fellow community members who are suffering from poverty.
“This is a great achievement as compared to what was set as an objective by SHA Spears Programme when we were implementing this cooperative. And in so doing, we are complementing the countrys vision 2063 and our duty is to monitor them how best they can come up with plans and guide them on how to engage with external traders. We also want them to do value addition and export their products outside the country,” said Barton.
