IFC moves to train macadamia nuts farmers
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector financing arm of the World Bank Group, says it intends to work directly with macadamia nuts cooperatives in the country to improve their management capacity.
IFC advisory support follows a $4 million (about K3 billion) investment from IFC and Private Sector Window of the Global Agriculture and Food Security Programme (Gafsp) in Global Tea in 2018 to help it expand tea, macadamia and coffee processing operations across Eastern and Southern Africa.
Global Tea chairperson Nadeem Ahmed said IFC support for the farmers they work with aligns with their smallholder sourcing strategy, which will help create a better value for the customer, farmers and the country.
“Meanwhile, the investment from IFC and Gafsp is helping us increase our processing capacity to meet the growing global demand for macadamia nuts,” he said.
IFC senior manager for manufacturing, agribusiness and services advisory Tania Lozansky said her institution is committed to supporting Malawi’s agriculture sector, especially its farmers, because of its importance to the country’s economy.
The project will be implemented among smallholder farmers in Thyolo and Mzimba where with IFC support, Global Tea will develop a sustainable sourcing partnership that will improve livelihoods of 3 000 farmers and their families.
In addition to Gafsp, the advisory project is supported by IFC’s Conflict Affected States in Africa Initiative (Casa), backed by Ireland, The Netherlands and Norway.
