Weds 25 Mar 13 and Thurs 26 Mar 13
Weds we(Frank Kadzakkumanja-hereinafter, Frank K of ACE), Linda and I headed "up country" to the Kafula warehouse operated by ACE(Africa Commodity Exchange in Malawai). The route took us north of Lilongwe on the M1. The maize, planted in Dec-Jan, the start of the rainy season, was good and green. Within the next 30 days it will probably turn brown quickly as rain quits, and the crop is depleted of nutrients. The route took us past John Deer dealerships, DeKalb and Pioneer signs, and African seed company signs. Also banks(signs that say "Money Comes In, Money Goes Out"), agro dealers, car beaters etc. The road is a good surfaced road, like state roads we are used to in the midwest. The country is beautiful and green. Some inselburgs(mountains, hills really), great scenery. Very interesting feature to me was the lines of people walking along both sides of the roads. Like wartime refugee pictures you see except these people probably go back the other way the next day. Walking, biking, no need for health clubs here. The country has about 15 million people, some say 20, but who's counting? There are about 1 million in Lilongwe, the capital where we are staying, about 1 million in Blantyre, the business center further south, several mid sized towns???? 2-300,000 people, but 80-90% of the people are rural and do subsitence farming.
We drove about 40 klicks on M1 and then turned off on a dirt road. About another 10 klicks and we came to the warehouse. Which points up a problem. The warehouse is effectively non accesable when it rains. And rough when it is dry. It's advantage is that it is close to production. Interestingly enough, the further we got from the M1 the dryer the maize looked. This is becauese the more remote areas put on less inputs. This warehouse and the area is "off the grid". No electric power. For reference, Kafula is in the Dowa area, where the author of THE BOY WHO HARNESSED THE WIND , came from. He is now at Dartmouth--guess he should have stayed home and harnessed some more wind.
We had about 15 farmers, including the town chief(head man)listen to a presentation on the merits of a warehouse receipt and cash commodity exchange that has been in operation about a year now. These folks must spend a lot of time on meetings, as everyday had someone signing into the guest book. Someone from the GATES FOUNDATION was there the day before, so I am sure we were a "let down". Really, it was a good meeting. This group will probably be able to utilize more warehouse space in the future.
The warehouse receipt system allows farmers to borrow money for operations and to sell at a more favorable time. That is the hook.
The facility is actually on ground and shares buildings with a World Vision site for the community. The facility is for bagged product so it is not a silo structure. the farms are 3-4 Hectares(7-10 acres) growing maize and maybe soys or ground nuts. Maize is both a food and cash crop for these folks.
There were some complaints to be addressed by Frank, and some ideas for progress, but these peopld did fill up their warehouse and were happy with the ACE concept.
Amazingly, there were lines of people walking out here also. Linda took some great pics which we will try to get on.
You have to realize that these people do have a great sense of community and there is a social pecking order.
More later
Jim
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