On Friday, July 14, Minister of Tourism, Culture & Wildlife in Malawi, Michael Usi presided over the official handover ceremony of six refrigerated vans to cooperatives in the fisheries sector on behalf of Government of Malawi.
According to the Minister this initiative will help enhance the production capacities of the cooperatives by, among other things minimizing their post production losses; improve quality of their fish as well as gain access to wider markets.
The Minister said, it is also his hope that this initiative will help achieve the ultimate objective which is to make the price of fish affordable by the common person.
The vans have been provided to the cooperatives with support from the African Development Bank (AfDB) on cost recovery basis. Each van costs 50 million kwacha but the cooperatives will only be required to pay back 50 percent of the loan over a period of five years.
This initiative is very much in tandem with government’s 2063 agenda of ensuring that we continue to promote the efficient and sustainable use of our fisheries resources and promote the availability of quality fish in our markets, for the benefit of Malawians.
This is News worth telling the world. The cooperatives will end up creating jobs and therefore bringing income to more people in communities.
