What am I doing here?For the past week, I've been attempting to visit all of the agrodealers (people who sell seed, fertilizer, or chemicals to farmers) that have been trained over the seven years of this project. It's a big undertaking because over the past seven years more than 1,300 agrodealers have been trained. These agrodealers come in all shapes and sizes. Some of these agrodealers have businesses that are extremely successful, and some are still struggling to get their businesses going. Some agrodealers have received grants from CNFA to purchase equipment, or to renovate their shops. And, some have received assistance in order to stock their shops. We're trying to meet with all of the agrodealers to find out how their businesses are doing and what kind of assistance they feel they need (in terms of training and access to CNFA support).
It's been a really interesting process for me (and I'm only in week one of the three week project). I've interviewed over 20 agrodealers this week. Some of them have big shops in Mzuzu and they are open year round. Some agrodealers have very small shops and they are not open at this time of year (the main growing season will start in November when the rains come). Some of the agrodealers have received grants to purchase different pieces of equipment for processing maize and rice. We visited one maize mill in the hills surrounding Mzuzu this week (it's shown in the pictures). The maize mill processes maize into flour that is then made into nsima, which is the staple food in Malawi. People come to the maize mill and pay a small fee to have their maize ground into the flour. Without the mill, the women will spend hours pounding the maize into flour.
The mill that we visited is run by an agrodealer who is also a teacher. She has put her shop in one of the rural areas surrounding Mzuzu (this is encouraged by CNFA). Her mill has a very small shop attached. The shop sells small quantities of seed and fertilizer. Both the mill and the shop are manned by the woman shown in the photos. She keeps very basic records showing when the mill has been used and the number of electricity credits that were used. She was very happy to pose for a photo. Kids are always keen to pose when they see a camera. Perhaps you can't tell from the photos, but it's quite cold here in Mzuzu and even more so up in the hills.
I'd love to answer any questions you have... so fire away!
Hi AM, do they have a good supply of electricity in the rural communities? I would have thought that would be a problem, I noted the mill had a small electric motor providing the power to run it. Dad
ReplyDeleteHello there!
ReplyDeleteThat's an excellent question. When the mills are installed electricity has to be run to the building that the mill is installed in. This isn't too much of a problem when the mill is near to a city (like the one above), but it is fairly expensive in more rural areas. In some cases the mills are run on diesel generators (although I haven't come across one yet).
Hi Anna-Marie,
DeleteI am going out to Mzuzu in May 2013 and need to know where Mchengautuba maize mills are, any idea?
Mzuzuman
Out of curiosity what's an electricity credit?
ReplyDeleteHi Christie!
ReplyDeleteAlso a good question =0) Here water and electricity are sold with credits. So you buy credits and then you have a meter in your home that you put the credits in (usually with a keypad on the meter). Very few people here have addresses so monthly billing is pretty much impossible, plus you can't default on your bill. When out of credit you don't have any more electricity or any more water. The phone work on a similar system. I buy units on the street, scratch off the pin number and then enter it into my phone to get time to talk.
Thanks Margaret!
ReplyDeleteAnna (NaJere) Hi! I have been following your blog. One correction on credit for electricity units!!! You may wish to know that more than 75% electricity consumers in Malawi get their electricity bills after they have used electricity (post paid). Which means they either have postal address or utility bills are delivered to their doorsteps (so they can be traced, my dear). Meter readers know exactly where to locate the houses. The prepaid connections (keypad meters) are only available in major cities(Mzuzu, Lilongwe, Zomba and Blantyre but note that not all consumers in these cities have prepaid meters. The prepaid metering was introduced in Malawi in the mid 90s which means before then all the connections were post paid. For water connections to houses almost all are billed after consumption (post paid). Unlike for electricity which has only one utility company - ESCOM controlling, the water control is decentralised three major board (North, Centre and South) and the operations are further controlled at district level. I hope I have added value to the misconception. Good evening (nice publicity on CNFA in Malawi)
ReplyDeleteKen Nyirenda (your collegue in Malawi)
Hi Anna Marie,
ReplyDeleteI am going out to Mzuzu in May 2014 and my friends live in Mchengautuba, can you tell me where this is on a map, somewhere it is close to please -thanks, Roy.