Sylva Catering trains 15,000 farmers

IN AN effort to promote value addition and enhance market access for small-scale farmers, Sylva Professional Catering Services Limited (SPCS) has trained over 15,000 farmers countrywide.

Company proprietor Sylva Banda said farmers need to be trained on how they can benefit from their produce through value addition.

Mrs Banda said in Lusaka recently that most farmers are selling their produce in raw form due to lack of knowledge, and that they need to start adding value to their produce if they are to increase productivity and generate income.

“When you train farmers on how to add value to their produce, the next thing that they do is to increase their yields because they will see the benefit of adding value to their crops. Currently we are working with more than 15,000 farmers in various parts of the country whom we have trained on value addition.

“Most of the farmers we have trained are now supplying to the company with various produce and the only way we could offload the produce was through processing it,” Mrs Banda said.
She said the company has ventured into the production of various foodstuffs such as moringa soup, porridge for school children feeding programmes, and moringa tea which has attracted not only the local market, but also the international buyers.

Mrs Banda said SPCS has been conducting training programmes in all the 10 provinces designed to improve health and nutrition by encouraging the consumption of indigenous vegetables.

Mrs Banda, however, said the promotion of one crop production such as maize has hindered the development of other sub-sectors in agriculture.

STORY BY – KELLY NJOMBO, Zambia Daily Mail.