The Ministry of Trade has embarked on an exercise to trace all machines that were bought during the implementation of the One Village One Product (Ovop) project but have been idle for over 10 years.
The machines were procured by the government for cooperatives to use in production and value addition processes of agricultural products.
In an interview, Director of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), Cooperatives and Value Addition in the Ministry of Trade Limbikani Kachiwaya said, through the exercise, the ministry intends to promote industrialisation and value addition.
He said, by the first quarter of 2024, most of the machines will be up and running.
Kachiwaya said the machines were distributed across the country and the exercise intends to track their status.
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He said the ministry has partnered Malawi University of Business and Applied Sciences (Mubas), which will be responsible for the maintenance of the machines.
“Apart from industrialisation, which is a pillar in the realisation of Malawi 2023, we are sure that this will help in the job creation agenda.
“On the other hand, we also have a good working relationship with counterparts at the Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources and Project Innovation Centre,” Kachiwaya said.
PIC Director Kondwani Kachamba said the firm’s main role would be to train small and medium enterprises in cooking oil production, processing and product certification.
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Kachamba said the second role would be to mobilise the SMEs into groups which eventually form cooperatives.
It is expected that over 300,000 farmers will benefit from the project.
Malawi launched the Ovop concept—as a tool for eradicating poverty—in November 2003 to mobilise local human, material and cultural resources to create value-added products and services for domestic and external markets.
The concept was centred around three principles of creation of globally acceptable products and services based on local resources, self-reliance and creativity and human resource development.
