A STUDY ON THE ANALYSIS OF MUSA PROCESSING BUSINESSES AND THEIR SUPPORT ENVIRONMENT IN MALAWI

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A STUDY ON THE ANALYSIS OF MUSA PROCESSING
BUSINESSES AND THEIR SUPPORT ENVIRONMENT IN
MALAWI
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Presentation Outline

• Major banana production areas.
• Names of people organisations that carried out
  the study.
• Country data on banana production.
• Types sizes of processing businesses.
• Business Profile 1
• Business Profile 2

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Outline Ctd

• Business Profile 3
• Major Public Service Providers
• Major Private Service providers
• Principle Mechanisms for information flow
• Major Gaps in Services offered.
• Major gaps for Rural households
• Final Workshop
• Follow up Actions by the Organisations that
  carried out the study.

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Names of People Organizations that carried out
the study.

• V. E. Mshani, D.L.N Banda, M.N Nsanjama R.
  Msewe MOA-DARS
• V. Ndolo UNIMA
• B. Mbundungu
• (DEMAT)
• F.G. Nyirenda
• (MEPC)
• M. Sauzande
• (Min. of Trade)

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Major Production Areas
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Country Data
Plantains Dessert Cooking
Production area 15,000ha 180,000ha 40,000ha
Annual volume 30,000Mt 900,000Mt 120,000Mt
Sold fresh 80 90 25
processed 20 5 75
Exported 0 5 0
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Type Size of processing businesses
Type of Business No. of businesses Name of business NO. of Employees Technology Products produced Banana/Plantain used
Wine making 8 Mkondezi wine group 10 Local Wine 90
Individuals in Mzuzu Family Local Wine 90
Individuals in Lilongwe Family Local Wine 90
Individuals in Blantyre Family Local Wine 90
Makawa wine group 10 Local Wine 90
Snack making 4 Zoa 60 Modern Dried bananas 100
Magomero 6 Local Dried bananas 100
Universal industries Many Modern Crisps 100
Individual in Lilongwe Family Local Dried bananas 100
Paper making 1 PAMET 18 Paper products 20
Handcraft Numerous Inviduals in the major banana production areas Local Mats, hats, name tags handbags etc 100


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Business profile 1

• Name Magomero Food Processing Enterprise
• This is a small-scale women fruit processing
  business.
• Location Zomba District
• Clients surrounding communities like schools and
  individual families

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Ctd

• Products
• Juice Baobab, Guava, Pineapple, Uapaca Kirkiana.
• Jam Baobab and Banana
• Banana Dried
• Wine
• Sweets
• Jelly

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Steps in drying bananas
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Pictures for Drying Bananas
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Key Technical Business Strengths

• Use of locally available inputs e.g. Raw
  materials, packaging materials.
• Simple short production process.
• Cheap human resources.
• Ability to plan on what to produce.
• Short, medium long term objectives put in place
• Ability to manage finances.

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Key Technical Business problems

• Use of rental buildings.
• Lack of promotional material like labels.
• Over-dependency on personal experience/judgement
  rather than the use of certain equipment for
  precision. E.g. weighing balances-this is subject
  to human errors.
• Lack of skilled and professional personnel to run
  the business.

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Support Services

• The CDO for the college has been providing key
  information also through visits to similar
  women groups.
• Demands
• Market survey for other products being produced.
• Technologies developed in banana wine and juice
  production.
• Nutritional analysis for the dried bananas.

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Contribution to rural development

• Enhanced nutritional status
• Knowledge skills acquired in fruit processing
• Creation of markets
• Remittances
• Domestication of indigenous fruits

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Business profile 2

• Name Paper Making Education Trust
• Type Paper making trust which turned into a
  business to sustain itself.
• Products
• Photo albums, Picture frame, Diaries, Folders,
  Post cards, Gift wrappers Writing sets.
• Clients Tourists.
• Location Blantyre City
• Owners Trust

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Steps in Paper Making
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Pictures for Paper Making
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Key Technical Business Strengths

• Raw materials are readily available
• Trained to do quality control
• Well defined positions i.e. right people in
  positions
• Ability to train its staff members
• Have business and market plans
• Ability to identify their marketing shortfalls
• Able to advertise
• Magazines
• Hotels

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Key Technical Business Problems

• Less care for equipment
• Use of old and dilapidated buildings
• Poor management of raw material waste material
• Failure to develop a strong market strategy for
  both the local and international markets
• Too much dependence on donations from the trust
• General low hygiene of the premises

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Support Services

• A Business Consultant, Business Consult Africa
  has been providing market information
• Demand
• The trust would like to have more research done
  information made available in alternatives to
  drying paper in the absence of the sun.

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Contribution to rural development

• Skill acquisition in paper production
• Labour availability for people
• Increased integration among communities
• Increased income (employees trainees)

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Business profile 3

• Name Mkondezi Wine group
• Location Nkhata-bay District
• Product Banana wine.
• Clients mostly the local community including the
  Catholic Community (Priests), who use it during
  mass celebrations.
• OwnersGroup of 10 people
• Type Wine manufacturing business

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Steps in Wine Making
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Key Technical Business Strengths

• Uses locally available equipments-buckets
• Raw materials are easy to get within the
  locality-bananas, sugar, yeast
• Process is short and easy to follow.
• The group has been trained in various business
  disciplines.
• Able to advertise their product

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Key Technical Business Problems

• Are using a tiny and dilapidated building
• Have not considered establishing own banana
  fields.
• Dont have work plans and budgets
• Unable to develop own labels for the wine.
• Failure to source more funds for expansion
• They dont have their own means of
  transportation.
• Marketing

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Support Services

• DEMAT provided them with a loan has been
  providing business and market information.
• Demand
• The business has indicated a great desire for
  additional credit to achieve some meaningful
  expansion.
• They are also in great need of better equipment
  for bottling and filtering.

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Contribution to rural development

• There is a lot of interaction with
  producers-suppliers-consumers
• Promotion of other businesses like small
  groceries which keep resigns.
• Increased income for the group members
  suppliers of raw materials such as yeast
• Development of physical capital for production.

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Major Public Service Providers

• DARS-development of technologies
• MCCCI-promotion of local international
  commercial fairs
• MIRTDC-training provision of machinery
• MEPC-promotion of the export market
• MBS-certification of products
• MFIs-provision of loans
• City Assembly, Registrar General-registration of
  businesses
• CAMA-food quality consumer safety

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Major Private Service Providers

• Polypack, Aero plastics, Packaging Industries,
  Container Enterprises-provide packaging materials
  i.e. bags bottles
• MUSCCO, FINCA, DEMAT, PRIDE MALAWI, SEDOM, NABW,
  CUMO, FITSE-Micro finance Institutions, which
  provide loans.
• DEMAT-provision of loans training in various
  business aspects

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Principal Mechanisms for Information flow

• Small Scale Enterprises
• Agriculture shows and trade fairs
• Through field visits to fellow processors.
• Private public training organizations.
• Medium Scale Enterprises
• Advertisements on radio, magazines, and the
  television.
• Agriculture shows and trade fairs represents.

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Major Gaps in Services offered

• Training sessions are arranged for the small
  scale processors by NGOs implementing projects
  hence no training needs assessment-Irrelevant
  material provided.
• Machinery designed is mostly too expensive for
  small scale farmers.
• Lack of consultation between companies which make
  packaging materials the business groups hence
  inappropriate packaging materials are produced.

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Major Gaps for Rural Households

• Failure by processing group(s) to share the
  existing information on processing technologies
  to fellow farmers.
• Prohibitive interest rates on loans obtained from
  credit institutions.
• Low interest from the general public on locally
  produced materials hence low sales.
• Unavailability of proper storage packaging
  materials hence a lot of wastage.
• Inadequate technologies on processing of bananas.

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Final Workshop

• Participants All Team Members, All members of
  the horticultural commodity group, SARRNET,
  UNIMA, ADDs NGOs.

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Follow up Actions
Organization Action
DARS Post harvest handling techniques,Banana cultivars, Banana local network Stakeholder meeting
UNIMA Recipes for various products. Development of banana products to diversify utilisation options for value added products
MEPC Demand survey for banana products.
DEMAT Improvement of packaging and labels for banana wine. Promotion of the banana enterprises
Min. Trade Scrutinizing of existing policies in relation to the promotion or inhibition of Musa processing
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Suggestions

• Government should join hands with NGOs in the
  promotion and development of the small-scale
  processing businesses.
• Need for the business development agencies to put
  more effort to value adding activities.
• Credit providers (money lenders) should also be
  offering loans for capital investment rather than
  working capital alone.
• There is need for more research into detailed
  aspects of Musa processing in the country.

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BANANAS NOURISHING THE WORLD.
MARAMING SALAMAT
ZIKOMO KWAMBIRI
ASANTE SANA
MUCHAS GRACIAS
MERCI BEAUCAUP
THANK YOU FOR LISTENING!