Bountifield International is excited to celebrate the opening of a new Food Technology Center (FTC) in Mikundi, Malawi. The FTC is creating new business potential among smallholder farmers with postharvest tools and training. This center officially opened in June and expects to see over 2000 smallholder farmers benefit from the resources provided.
Established in collaboration with our local partner, the National Association of Smallholder Farmers in Malawi (NASFAM), the FTC is a resource for farmers and entrepreneurs in the greater Mchinji district to access needed tools. As part of the grand opening celebration, Bountifield and NASFAM demonstrated equipment and the FTC will offer rental services that will increase the quantity of quality shelled peanuts available for market.
At the FTC, farmers process their crops with Bountifield’s peanut stripper and sheller. With needed tools, they can greatly reduce the amount of time they spend in processing nuts – from weeks to just days. They also use Bountifield’s multi-crop grinder for value addition, creating products like flour and peanut butter to expand their entrepreneurial opportunities.
“In addition to providing technologies, we are training smallholder farmers on food safety and agribusiness to increase knowledge, profitability, and sustainability”
Wongani Langa, Bountifield Malawi Country Manager
These types of trainings help improve the quality of food and reduce the spread of contaminants and other food-borne illnesses.
The FTC is made possible by funding from The McKnight Foundation as part of a larger project aimed at advancing the development and adoption of postharvest grain legume technologies by smallholder farmers in Malawi and Tanzania. The project is implemented in partnership with the International Crop Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) in addition to NASFAM.