Malawi: Women Turn Cotton Profits Into Year-Round Businesses

What the report says

AllAfrica, carrying a Bird Story Agency report by Maureen Kawerama dated 30 July 2026, reported that the Mkuyu Women’s Group in Mbapi, Mangochi District, southern Malawi, is using proceeds from cotton farming to build income beyond the harvest season. The group, founded in 2018, has 25 women who cultivate a shared 0.4-hectare cotton field while also farming individual plots.

According to the report, the group earned about MK1.2 million, roughly US$670, from six bales of seed cotton in the 2025/2026 season. Rather than distribute all the money, members used proceeds to repair a poultry house, buy feed and medicines, purchase a backpack sprayer and save through a village savings group. An earlier cotton sale in 2022, worth about MK1.6 million, helped the women build the poultry house; the enterprise now has nearly 80 laying chickens supplying eggs and chickens to local restaurants.

The story highlights individual members including chairperson Juliana Samuel, Doreen Kasoka and Bessie Maliwata, who have used cotton earnings to build homes, start or expand grocery and livestock ventures, pay school fees and invest in more farming inputs. A local agricultural economist cited in the report said seasonal cotton income can reduce poverty more effectively when farmers channel it into activities that generate cash throughout the year.

The report also links the group’s progress to wider support from the African Institute of Corporate Citizenship, We Effect and the Embassy of Sweden, including training in financial literacy, climate-smart agriculture and business development. It notes, however, that Malawi’s cotton sector still faces constraints such as market access, low prices, seed delivery delays and poor germination, limiting what farmers can achieve.