Established in 2021, Yalokolo is a local/village chicken and egg production company based in Lilongwe and Rumphi districts. The company produces high-quality, fresh and natural eggs and chickens using sustainable farming practices. Yalokolo is registered as a sole proprietorship by owner Mr. Kumbukani Munthali, and has two full-time and 12 part-time employees, with casual workers engaged on a needs basis. Mr. Munthali has been managing single-handedly albeit with support from two technical assistants based at the farm in Rumphi. His educational background is in agriculture, having studied for his Bachelors at the Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Mr Munthali’s professional background includes roles as a technical specialist and project manager for development organisations and agribusinesses, of various sizes and in different value chains.

Currently, the company owns four chicken houses enclosed in a brick fence with capacity ranging from 2,000-3,200 birds per cycle with a minimum of two cycles per year. Yalokolo’s vision is to be the leading catalyst for positive change in Malawi’s local chicken production industry. The company is establishing a model of sustainable organic chicken farming that empowers smallholder farmers, fosters community resilience against the negative impacts of climate change, and sets the standard for ethical and high-quality organic chicken products in Malawi. 

SME and Out-grower Co-Investment to Fulfill Market Demand for Indigenous Chickens

This project demonstrates a new model where an agri-SME and Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLA) can come together and co-invest in a business idea. There is potential for other agri-SMEs to replicate the model.

Through the 12-month project, CASA is providing technical support to Yalokolo to expand its production and marketing of local chickens. This is done through building a climate-resilient and mutually beneficial investment partnership with 1,500 smallholder farmers (including women, youth, and people with disabilities, comprising at least 80%) organised into 50 VSLAs (of 30 people each) that are not currently involved in poultry production at any meaningful scale. Yalokolo is entering into contract farming agreements with the VSLAs which include training the smallholder members in poultry production and in aggregation, processing, and selling of the poultry products produced. This expansion is being done via a new model of co-financing of investments by both Yalokolo and the VSLAs to expand production and processing.

In addition to selling local chickens, the business model includes the production of organic manure from chicken droppings as another product line which correspondingly helps to build an integrated climate-resilient business model. Leveraging the outgrower scheme, chicken droppings will be pooled in one place for organic manure production, thus providing support to address the indirect constraint of expensive inorganic fertilisers. Of the total project cost of £82,820, CASA is providing £42,820.