Farming First TV interviewed Keith Polo, Managing Director of Tukula Farming Company, and Country Director at the Clinton Development Initiative, to find out more about the process that agribusinesses in Malawi are following, in order to become more inclusive of smallholder farmers.
Tukula Farming Company has transformed defunct tobacco farms into productive plots of land, and farmers are being assisted with credit and inputs.
“Long term the farms is designed to have an equity stake owned by smallholder farmers, we are now looking into setting up a trust where the famers will potentially have a seat on the board”
“This inclusive modelling has become a common term, but the actual practices of including smallholders into business is still a new thing, so we are all trying to figure it out,” comments Mr. Polo. He explained that one of the most important things is to have the right leadership at the board level, so the inclusive nature of the business is in built, and not an “add-on”.
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