Kasinthula producers

benefitting cane growers in Malawi

The Co-operative Fairtrade Golden Granulated and The Co-operative Fairtrade White sugar are on sale today in over 3000 stores across the UK.

Our initial contract of 600 tonnes brought potentially life changing benefits to the Kasinthula Cane Growers’ co-operative in Malawi. By paying a Fairtrade price, our initial order returned an additional £87,000 to the co-operative and also enabled development of its refining business, which will bring longer-term benefits.
 

“Fairtrade gives us the security of a stable price for our crop, a premium to invest in schools, clinics and safe drinking water, and because we can refine the sugar ourselves our income will grow.”

- Brian Namata, a member of the Kasinthula co-operative’s management committee

The community faces many problems, with insufficient medical care to cope with diseases such as HIV and AIDS, which are rife. Many people suffer and die in the village, as the nearest health facility is very inaccessible, being over 50Km away. The Fairtrade benefit will lead to the provision of a much-needed village medical centre as well as additional funding for improved schooling.
Jameson Mabviko is on the Management Committee of KCG. “I work hard in the fields… Cane needs good care. I want many things for my life. I want to finish building my house. I want to make a good future for my family.”

In 1996 in an attempt to alleviate poverty in the Southern region of Malawi and provide more sugar cane to the nearby sugar-processing factory, a cane project was initiated. The project was collaboration between the government and the Nchalo factory in Southern Malawi. The idea was to convert largely uneconomic land over to sugar cane and thus provide an income for its owners – poor subsistence farmers who were barely growing enough food to eat.

Since the beginning, the success of the project has been threatened by enormous and escalating debts. The initial investment to convert the land to sugar cane and provide irrigation seemed manageable. But with foreign creditors owed money against a dramatically devalued local currency and interest rates of over forty percent, the amount of their initial investment quickly duplicated itself several times over.
 
After three years when the cane was ready to harvest – the proceeds would not cover interest repayments let alone reduce the capital amount. However, over time and with good management in place they have now started to make headway in paying back the money they owe. With high yields from their cane and with outside financial help they are beginning to carve away at their debts, which are slowly becoming manageable. Although still a long way from turning a profit or breaking even, the farmers are paying themselves around £250 a year. This puts a further strain on their debt but just about allows them to put food on the table.

A priority is to provide clean water to three villages that don't yet have their own communal water supply. Dependent on the River Shiree, villagers have been killed by crocodiles or have succumbed to waterborne diseases such as dysentery, cholera and bilharzia.
Source: Julia Powell  for the Fairtrade Foundation 2003