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WoLREC Commends Group Businesses For Rural Enterprises

Women Legal Resource Centre WoLREC says there is a growing need for stakeholders not to relent in organizing people in groups for group businesses mainly in rural areas if they are to be relevant on the market.

According to WoLREC project Officer in Salima Amos Mlotha who was speaking on Wednesday during a workshop for business cluster leaders on group dynamics, the market issue for either farm produce or any other products remains a challenge for small scale enterprises as potential buyers need them in bulk.

"We have realized that most of the people in rural areas are finding it hard to penetrate the market as individuals thereby giving away at a low price to unscrupulous traders which we feel is defeating the purpose of economic empowerment to rural women," Mlotha said.

According to Mlotha the problems in Salima are not different countrywide and organizing the people in groups remains one sure way of economically empowering them and improve their livelihood.

"We have seen that in a project we have been implementing in Salima with support from IM Swedish, where we have established clusters, some are doing rice businesses, weaving, other livestock farming and they are doing well." Said Mlotha.

Secretary for Nkalankhanga cluster in the area of senior Chief Maganga Melody Andrew whose group is into rice business shares the same view saying the profit they get as a group is better than what they get in individual businesses.

"Much as individuals we have our own businesses but the group business is sustaining us and we end up even borrowing money from our groups to boost the capital of our personal trade, group business is so beneficial," said Andrew.

Government through different entities and other stakeholders have also been promoting the cooperative concept to address the market-facing farmers in the country.

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