MAAG Farms is a livestock business owned by Managing Director Mathias Silumbu (photo) and his family. Operating in Blantyre, Neno, Mwanza, Chiradzulu, Thyolo, Zomba and Chikwawa, the business started in 2014 and was registered as a sole proprietorship in 2019, now with 14 employees (29% women) and a field officer who provides technical management support to the farm. MAAG Farms started out of a family background and passion for farming. From piggery to its current wide range of poultry species, MAAG Farms envisions further growth in poultry through aggregation from smallholders, value addition, and improved marketing and distribution. The farm boasts several livestock species that include layer chickens, local and Hyline chickens, ducks, guinea fowls, turkeys, pigs, and dairy cattle. Of these, pigs, cattle, layers, ducks, and local chickens are the largest in terms of income generation. Currently, the business does all the production and selling of the poultry products. Meanwhile, MAAG Farms is constructing a processing unit in readiness for rolling out the value addition aspect. Contact: MAAG FARMS Facebook  MAAG FARMS YOUTUBE

Diversified Poultry Production for Processing and Increased Incomes

Through this 14-month project, CASA is providing technical support to MAAG Farms, to expand its production, processing, and marketing of diverse niche poultry products to target the urban market. This is done by supplementing MAAG Farms’ production through the development of a contract farming model with 250 pilot smallholder out-growers (including women and youth), organized in three clusters, who are currently involved in subsistence poultry production and are interested in migrating to commercial production. MAAG Farms will enter into contract farming agreements with the small-scale poultry producers which will include support in access to inputs, training the smallholders in poultry production, feed production (including maggots), and purchasing, processing, climate and environmental smart production techniques, and selling the poultry product. Beyond the pilot, MAAG Farm will engage an additional 750 smallholders. Of the total project cost of £63,075, £23,070 is being contributed by MAAG Farms and £40,005 by CASA.

MAAG Farms plans to access investment amounting to £50,500 to acquire meat processing equipment consisting of a plucker, meat cutter, freezers, and refrigerated mobile van for transporting products. The investment will support shifting the current production from live bird sales at an average price of MK8,500 to a higher price per processed bird (approx. MK10,000). The business has so far invested its own savings into the construction of the processing unit structure but now requires external financing to equip the unit and support aggregation logistics. MAAG Farms has never accessed financing from commercial entities before; hence they need support from CASA through technical assistance to become investment-ready and secure the investment. This will include activities such as developing a business feasibility study and a strategic plan, and preparation of a business investment plan which will also include preparation of financial projections to prove the capacity of the MAAG Farms’ business model to repay the loan.