The ManicaPost
Tendai Gukutikwa
Post Correspondent
IN a move set to boost rural farmers’ access to business capital for rural micro-enterprise activities while contributing to national development, farmers across the province are forming Internal Savings and Lending (ISAL) investment clubs.
One such club which has proved to be a success in Marange is the Wegaugayi ISAL Club in Mukwada Village.
The group of 17 small-scale farmers has managed to acquire a groundnuts shelling machine and an incubator from proceeds realised through their club.
They have been saving for a few months.
Wegaugayi chairperson, Mr Batsirai Betera said apart from increased business activities, food insecurity has also improved through the club.
After purchasing the two machines, the club is now in the business of hatching chicken eggs and shelling other farmers’ groundnuts for a fee.
Mr Betera, however, said they are now looking for a bigger catchment area for the groundnuts since Marange area has run out of supplies.
“We are looking to expand our business into Buhera where there are more groundnuts farmers. We want to reach out to many farmers so that the business can grow,” he said.
He said to support their personal farming ventures, they used proceeds from the club savings to buy each member at least 50kg of barbed wire and three-legged pots that can be hired out for big functions.
“This project has been a game changer for us. We are looking for more business opportunities to explore on,” he said.
Another club, Kushinga ISAL Club in Chigodora has managed to acquire 50 Boschveld indigenous chickens for each of its 15 members. On top of that, it has also managed to buy farming inputs that include fertilizers for all the farmers.
Kushinga Club chairperson, Ms Sara Gogode-Mareere said the 18-member club enabled them to fund their other projects.
“Some of us are already venturing into apiculture using the funds we are getting from the club.
“The club has turned into an income generating project as it brings in money that I did not have in the first place. It has helped me sustain my family. I am paying my two children’s university fees from the money I am getting from this club,” she said.
She said Kushinga Club was formed in 2013 and has soldiered on despite a number of challenges they met and overcame along the way.
ISAL investing is a self-funding microfinance model. The model consists
of 10 to 15 members, but can also involve more members who meet once every month to contribute small amounts of money as savings.
Once the members have saved enough, they start lending the money among themselves.
The money is repaid with a nominal interest rate.
