The Mali Shambani aggregation center has made progress since getting educated on seed multiplication by the project – through their chairman, mr. Ndurya Philip.
“The seed multiplication method taught to us has increased our cassava output to over 3 times the typical output, thanks to the facilitation by Ustadi”, declared Mr. Ndurya during a recent sit down with our project officers and M&E team.
The aggregation center was also provided a chipper that they use for the milling of their cassava output. They mill the cassava from which they also create additional products like chapatis and scones which they sell locally and are getting popular with the locals.
“We can hardly keep up with the orders, especially during trade shows and market days. The locals are really awed by the products we make and the health benefits of the cassava crop. They really love it. We now have to scale up to keep up!” Declared mr. Ndurya.
The sales of their flour is also being appreciated as well by the locals as was seen in a recent trade show facilitated by Ustadi. They were able to attract the curiosity of the locals in MatanoManne town – Kilifi county, sensitizing the locals on the vast health benefits of cassava flour which in turn resulted in sales of their flour in huge quantities due to its affordable price compared to wheat and maize flour, going for only ksh. 60 per killogram, and its substitution nature with the same.
Mr. Ndurya also assured our team of creating a market within the local community during market days and other events, with some insight from our team on the same in order to boost their sales as they await certification by the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS).
“Currently, our focus is on ensuring that we meet the standardization quality as set by KEBS in order to be able to capture a wider market in all while providing healthy, nutritious and inexpensive flour to the country”, said mr. Ndurya.
They have also lauded the project for equipping them with ICT skills which has been key in helping them track their profits and losses in a harmonized manner.