By Salome Gangire

Neno, July 17, Mana: Minister of Trade and Industry, Sosten Gwengwe has urged Malawians to promote Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and cooperatives by buying their products.

He was speaking on Tuesday at Nthena Cooperative in the area of Traditional Authority (TA) Symon where he visited three cooperatives under UMODZI Consulting Limited.

The Minister said primary market for business people is the local market, adding that there was need to provide good market for locally produced goods other than buying imported goods.

“Our moral responsibility as Malawians is to promote our own SMEs and cooperatives and this should start by buying their products. When we buy imported goods, we are promoting oversees SMEs and at the same time we are creating jobs for people outside Malawi at the expense of our fellow Malawians,” Gwengwe added.

The Minister said in countries like Kenya, the cooperative movement is huge because they support one another by buying locally produced goods.

Gwengwe said government would make sure that Malawians buy locally produced and manufactured goods through the Buy Malawi campaign.

The Minister urged farmers to form cooperatives and adopt integrated farming systems and to venture into value additional for easy markets and profit making.

He said his Ministry under Department of Cooperatives is training farmers, putting them in cooperatives so that they should produce quality goods in large quantities.

“I am impressed with the quality and variety of crops grown by the farmers at the cooperatives and am glad that the cooperative movement is not only transforming the nutrition status of the people but also their livelihood,” Gwengwe said.

The Minister disclosed that government would table a Control of Goods Act in the September, 2024 Parliament sitting so as to amend it and make regulations on the list of products that could be put under licence to promote industries that should in turn create more jobs.

Country Programmes Coordinator for USADF, Linda Ndovi said USADF work with SMEs and cooperatives that are doing value additional in the agri-business sector and the youth among others.

She emphasized the importance of employing environmentally friendly farming techniques.

Chairperson of Matembe Cooperative Producers Ltd, Mighty Feremu said LIP help them to improve nutrition status of people in the area as they grow a variety of crops and rearing livestock.

He said the agricultural activities improved cooperative member’s livelihood as they sell crops and buy shares in the cooperative.

Feremu asked the Ministry of Trade and Industry to help them get registered with the Malawi Bureau of Standards (MBS) so that they are able to supply their goods to big markets and chain stores.

The Cooperatives are part of the 14 cooperatives in Neno District under the Livelihood Improvement Project (LIP) being implemented by Umodzi Consulting with funding from Helmsley Charitable Trust through the United States African Development Foundation (USADF).

Over 4, 417 participants in the 14 cooperatives benefit from the project in the district of which 2,268 are patients suffering from non-communicable diseases.