Established in 2011 as Nkhotakota Steadfast Cooperation for Youth (NS4Y) and operating in Nkhotakota and Salima districts, the company has now rebranded as Nkhotakota Steadfast Cooperation Limited (NSCL). NSCL is a dynamic agricultural enterprise specialising in the processing and marketing of a diverse range of agricultural products grown by smallholder farmers. NSCL currently processes fish, rice, and grain legumes, which it sells to institutional buyers in the country’s major towns and cities. Initially founded as a women’s cooperative and now fully owned and managed by young people, NSCL has a strong commitment to gender equality, social inclusion, and sustainable development. The four owners are:

• James Chimbiya, Managing Director
• Thokozani Mwadzama, Finance and Administration Manager
• Naomi Phiri, Operations Manager
• Alson Manda, Field Officer

The company prides itself on fostering close relationships with its farmers, ensuring fair trade practices, and delivering premium produce to its clients. By supporting local aquaculture, NSCL makes a positive impact on the lives of farmers and their families while taking pressure off local wild catch fisheries from Lake Malawi. NSCL has a consistent demand for 24 tonnes of fish per month from hotels in Lilongwe city. The company has struggled to meet this demand due to an unreliable and insufficient supply from fishermen on Lake Malawi. With support from CASA, NSCL launched a pilot programme for a fish out-growing and offtaking scheme to bridge the gap. This initiative will enable the company to source fresh fish from smallholder farmers.

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Commercialising Aquaculture for Better Market Access by Smallholder Farmers    

The project demonstrated to other traders how integration of affordable payment arrangements for good quality inputs for out-growers is instrumental for improved productivity, expansion of fish supplies and increased incomes for both smallholders and offtakers.

NSCL partnered with CASA to pilot a fish aggregation and offtaking scheme combined with a Pay-As-You-Grow (PAYG) inputs financing arrangement for smallholder fish farmers in Nkhotakota and Salima districts located along the shores of Lake Malawi. This project transitioned NSCL’s sourcing model from Lake Malawi fishermen to smallholder fish farmers in these two districts. With CASA’s support, NSCL developed an affordable input payment arrangement that strengthened smallholder fish farmers’ capacity to produce by providing them with inputs on credit, which they repay in installments over the growing period. This has enabled the farmers to access high-quality inputs, increase their production volumes, and sell their yields to NSCL at better prices. CASA has also enhanced NSCL capacity to offer ongoing extension services to smallholder farmers, and facilitated the Malawi Bureau of Standards certification of NSCL’s processing, thus allowing NSCL to market its processed fish products to a broader consumer base. This 14-month project on a total budget of £87,805 – with £52,570 in CASA support – has so far enabled 1,112 smallholder farmers to sign up as suppliers to NSCL, each of whom are anticipated to increase their annual incomes by £279.

NSCL has invested over £5,000 into small input loans to these farmers, to ensure that they should produce fish of the required quality and quantity. To handle the anticipated increase in fish volumes from the smallholder farmers and meet market demand, the company is seeking investment of £40,000 to build cold chain infrastructure and enhanced fish processing facilities.

Updated: July 2025