Today we journeyed east toward Lake Malawi stopping along the way to visit a company that processes peanuts, soybeans, edible corn, rice, and pigeon peas.  Out of these legumes and grains they make a variety of food products ranging from peanut butter to baby cereal.  The reason for the stop was to determine if our new program can recruit volunteers to help farmer groups organize and strengthen the link between them and this ready market.  Management of the company agreed to host a series of volunteers to tackle this objective.

Another stop was to visit the management team of a very modest agrodealer who serves 364 smallholder farmers.  The cooperative is busy on a project with the company I work with to install a peanut and soybean processing line.  Management agreed to host a series of volunteers to accomplish two objectives, i.e. help in startup of the peanut processing line and training the board of directors on cooperative principles.

Now all of this is boring though I have posted some pictures on Spypics that show how modest a reasonably good cooperative is coping in Malawi.  I have also posted picturs of the kind of countryside that exists in this part of Malawi.  There is an unusual picture of a huge grain storage site where the national food security grain is held.

But on to the best part, we did eventually reach the beautiful Lake Malawi, the pride of Malawi.  We had a late luncheon just off the beach at the Livingstonia Lodge, named after the famed explorer.  We had a delightful meal of tilapia, mushroom soup, and kuava juice.  It was rather expensive but I think we paid for the beautiful and peaceful view of the lake.

This is the last posting of Spyguy's covert trip to Africa.  I hope you enjoyed the blog and pictures and the explanation of our new program designed to benefit the smallholder farmers of East and South Africa.  Hopefully I will weather the long, long trip Home and can fill in some of the blank spots that you may have noticed.  Of all the blogs, I liked the Obama ones the best and of the pictures --the possible secret agent disguised as a dikdik taking a pee right in front of me.  The gall of that critter.

 

 

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