26May

Moringa Value Chain Enterprise Development (MOVED) Activity

Moringa Value Chain Enterprise Development (MOVED)

Project Summary

Green livelihoods (GL) launched a two-year activity funded by USAID that commenced in June 2021 and will ran until July 2023 by working hand in hand with its Moringa business experienced technical-market partners called Moringa Value Chain Enterprise Development (MOVED). MOVED is a USAID-funded project whose goal is “Foster creation of green entrepreneurship-based income sources and contribute to reduced vulnerability of smallholder to effects of climate change. Through this project, GL aims at strengthening people’s livelihoods through promotion of integrated green entrepreneurships and driving commercialization of Moringa value chain products through the Moringa Value Chain Enterprise Development (MOVED) activity.

Globally, climate change is being recognized as one of the biggest challenges that humanity is facing requiring concerted effort by all nations to ensure sustainable social-economic development. Currently, with the advent of Covid19 adding salt to the injury, every country in the world is seeing increased drastic effects of climate change ¹, some more than others. Malawi is no exception to be negatively affected by climate change despite its low contribution to greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) at global scale. It is, however, scientifically proven that human induced activities such as deforestation and unsustainable economic activities play a major role in exacerbating impacts of climate change on humanity and the biosphere at large. However, recent studies on the economic viability of Moringa show that the “miracle tree” is coming on the global stage as future crop considering its wider adaptability and tolerance to the severe climatic change conditions such as droughts among others (Zirmire, J., 2018:1)

In its effort thus, of improving people’s lives (one of USAID goals) by increasing their economic benefits and capacity using innovative and sustainable development pathways, Greenlivelihoods (GL) and its moringa business experienced technical-market partners will work on strengthening people’s livelihoods through promotion of integrated green entrepreneurships and driving commercialization of moringa value chain products through the Moringa Value Chain Enterprise Development (MOVED) activity. Specifically, GL will engage partners, communities and government to ensure that the MOVED activity drives the market-informed, community-first bottom-up investment-development approaches. Being a business-centered value chain commercialization project that has scoped already existing cooperatives for a start, the activity will;

• establish moringa tree farms.
• set up and amplify market regulated processing of tradable and consumable moringa products (i.e. powder, oil, ‘moringa tea bags’ etc.)
• augment youth and women groups that are not yet registered cooperatives to register so as to ensure moringa business growth via inclusive market development processes.

The business augmentation will culminate into the establishment of a government centrally hosted and co-managed ‘Moringa Business Incubation Hub – (MoBIH)’ in Salima district. The MoBIH will be directly linked with the management of the cooperative led by a Moringa cooperative board.

The MOVED activity targets women, youth and men groups or their self-selected combinations who are already in groups and/or cooperatives and have business interests to commercialize into large scale moringa integrated value chain production, processing and marketing ventures. Directly the project intends to reach 2000 moringa farmers where at least third, are vibrant youth. Some of these are already in registered cooperatives and more will be mobilized and capacitated to establish new cooperatives in response to increased moringa product demand on the market. Fused into the SADC’s industrialization strategy (2015-2063); MOVED activity’s primary focal orientation provides a regional sense as it necessities the need for structural transformation of the target communities in Malawi by way of infrastructural refurbishment, commercialization of moringa value chain, systems upgrading and modernization, and fostering closer community-market link integration. GL’s social-economic development premise ‘too’ sits on the thrust that communities must shift from reliance on ‘raw’ resources and low-cost labor to increased ‘sustainable’ investment and enhanced productivity of both labor and capital (SADC 2018).

In addition to moringa tailored training, MOVED project will support the target beneficiaries with various capacity building initiatives around seed systems quality assurance, production, processing and marketing of moringa products. Starting on a small scale with seed multiplication arrangements, other health valuable but high market value chains/crops that include ginger, garlic among others will be promoted to provide farmers with motivation towards the moringa business set-ups. These additional value chains will also be used as flavorings or additives to different final moringa products such as ‘moringa tea-bags’. The activity will also facilitate adaptive research, documentation and sharing of experiences and lessons to inform MOVED’s business intensification, co-opting emerging business youth groups that would inform expanded value chain development to reach economies of scale in Salima and other up scaled to project areas.

The project was officially launched on the 23rd December, 2021 at T/A Pemba, Mgwirizano ground in Salima District.