Community hails Wolrec for business fair

Communities in Traditional Authority Chanthunya in Balaka have hailed Women’s Legal Resources Centre (Wolrec) for a business fair which has potential to connect them to markets.

Speaking on Tuesday during a business fair at Kankao Trading Centre where farmers under Wolrec clusters showcased their produce, Alinafe Cluster chairperson Joseph Njolomole said fairs are essential tools for finding markets.

“We have been growing various vegetables and we also keep bees, but we have been facing challenges in finding markets for our products,” he said.

Njolomole said they started as a savings and loan group but were later adopted by Worlec which advised them to form a cluster.

“With the money we raised, we bought a piece of land on which we do our farming. Wolrec lent us K150 000 which we used to buy seedlings and other things.

“This year we made K1.6 million profit,” he said.

In his remarks,  Wolrec projects officer Mac Chambewa said it is easier to find markets and produce in bulks when people work in clusters.

“There is power in unity and if people do things as a group, they can easily access loans for farm inputs which can increase their yield and profits,” he said.