Amid continued rise in prices of cooking oil on the local market, a Mchinji-based cooperative, Mikonga Cooperative is making cooking oil more affordable and accessible by processing it locally.
The cooperative is producing the cooking oil at its factory based at Kapiri in the district.
The cooperative’s chairperson Elia Biliati said the group decided to venture into cooking oil production after noticing a huge market potential that exists in the sector.
Biliati said the group started cooking oil production in 2021 after months of investment using profits it was earning through the cultivation and sale of sunflower.
“We were originally a cooperative which was specialising in sunflower production but decided to go a step further by exploring value addition,” he said.
Through the cooking oil production, the cooperative has boosted its profits by over 100 percent, according to Biliati.
“Previously, we could only make an average of K3 million in profits through the sale of sunflower but now we are making over K6 million in profits through production of cooking oil per month,” said Biliati.
Apart from cooking oil production, the cooperative is also making profits through the sale of sunflower cake, a byproduct of cooking oil production.
“Some customers with livestock purchase these byproducts from us, which means more money for us,” he added.
The cooperative’s cooking oil is currently being sold in several stores across Mchinji and some districts in the Central Region ranging at prices ranging from K2,000 per half litre to K13,000 per bottle of 2 litres.
Trade and Industry spokesperson Patrick Botha has since commended the cooperative for identifying an opportunity in a sector which he described as underinvested.
