Twenty-two smallholder farmers spread across TA Kachindamoto and TA Kaphuka in Dedza have signed a first-of-its-kind supply contract with a national supermarket chain to deliver 8 tonnes of fresh cabbages per week from June through September.
The cool nights at Dedza’s 1,500 m altitude are ideal for brassicas, and the farmers — most of whom were already selling cabbages informally at Ntcheu Boma — worked with an AgriConnect trader-member to pool their production and meet the chain’s post-harvest and packaging standards.
Under the contract, cabbages are field-cut before 9 a.m., trimmed and stacked in returnable plastic crates, and moved to the chain’s Lilongwe distribution centre the same day. Farmers receive MWK 380/kg on delivery, with a MWK 40/kg quality bonus for grade-A heads.
The chain’s produce manager described the arrangement as “a proof point for direct-to-farmer sourcing — cheaper produce for shoppers, better price signals for growers.” A second cohort of ten Dedza farmers is now waiting to join at the end of the current cool season.