CADECOM KARONGA DIOCESE SHOWCASES VALUE ADDITION AND SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURAL PRACTICES AT 9th CHITIPA DAECC DISTRICT AGRICULTURAL FAIR
By Noel Chatepa
From the 24th to 25th October 2024, CADECOM Karonga Diocese through the Integrated Rural Development Project participated in the 9th Chitipa DAECC District agricultural fair at Chitipa Old Paradox ground under the theme “Leveraging markets through improved productivity and value addition”.
Several stakeholders from the public and commercial sectors, including government representatives, cooperatives, businesses like Seed-Co, and organizations like CADECOM, SPRODETA, and World Vision, took part in the fair. The CADECOM pavilion featured packaged groundnuts, soya beans, sunflowers, beans, and samples of liquid and Indole (compost) manure. Additionally on exhibit were local maize, tomatoes, and fresh maize from winter cropping.
“This was a good learning experience, we have learned about value addition for our produce, such as packaging which increases the value for our produce which can allow us to fetch better prices for produce on the market,” David Kanthonga, chair of Twavwane Cooperative, which is part of the Integrated Rural Development project, stated in a separate interview.
He added, “We were also inspired by other cooperatives who are using different channels to market and sell their produce for example we saw a cooperative that is using Seed-Co to sell their seed, this is a very good initiative, and we are very grateful to Karonga Diocese CADECOM for facilitating that we should attend the fair”.
Three clubs from the Integrated Rural Development project namely Ulambya-Songwe, Twavwane and Chitete cooperative were in attendance at the fair. The Integrated Rural Development project is being implemented in Chitipa District by CADECOM Karonga Diocese with funding from Misereor.