A women and youth-led sunflower oil initiative, Wangwiro Sunflower Cooking Oil, is creating opportunities through local farming, oil production and employment, with ambitions to become a nationwide distributor of Malawian-made cooking oil by 2030.
The initiative began in September 2025 with nine members and grew to 26 by November of the same year.
According to Titus Tsilizani Malakwa, the cooperative’s coordinator and chairperson of the Projects and Operations Committee, 80 percent of the membership are women.
The cooperative’s farming activities are based in Kantchentche Village, Nambuma, Dowa District, while its offices are located in Area 12, Lilongwe.
It currently produces an estimated 1,500 litres of sunflower cooking oil per week, although electricity blackouts sometimes affect production.
“The oil is currently sold mainly to neighbours, friends and family members as we work towards expanding our customer base,” said Malakwa.
Malakwa said the cooperative hopes to supply supermarkets, restaurants, hotels and households once its cooking oil receives certification from the Malawi Bureau of Standards (MBS).
To strengthen its raw material supply, the cooperative is seeking between 50 and 80 hectares of land for sunflower farming this year.
It currently grows sunflowers on its own farms but plans to source produce from other farmers in the future as it progresses towards registering as a cooperative.
Beyond oil production, the initiative is creating paid work across the agricultural value chain. Malakwa estimates that approximately 130 people have been engaged through wage-based work, commonly known as ganyu, across land preparation, planting, weeding and processing.
One of the beneficiaries, Yamikani Chingwe, said the initiative has transformed her life.
“This initiative has helped me to support my family and become self-reliant. I have gained skills and income that I never had before,” said Chingwe.
The cooperative aims to become a leading women and youth-led enterprise producing Malawian-owned sunflower cooking oil and distributing it nationwide by 2030.
