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For an individual smallholder farmer, sourcing markets for produce can be a tiresome and costly activity. Even after the efforts, one is never guaranteed that they will get the best possible deal. Such challenges are likely to lead smallholder farmers to turn away from farming activities and look for other less involving and profitable economic activities or perpetuate subsistence farming . To smallholder farmers who are members of Gwengwere cooperative, these challenges have been remitted to the archives of history. African Institute of Cooperative Citizenship (AICC) organized farmers into collective marketing groups and trained smallholders farmers under Gwengwere cooperative to be engaged in commodity aggregation and collective marketing. The intervention made the cooperative to establish an outlet that is bridging the gap between the Cooperative  and potential markets thereby allowing them guaranteed access to markets.

The Horticulture sector can be an integral part of local food system if an increase in small-scale farmers’ productivity and income is achieved. As part of investing in agriculture, The African Institute of Corporate Citizenship (AICC) in partnership with the Norwegian Church Aid (NCA) has been executing a Micro Investment project called Commercial Agribusiness for Sustainable Horticulture (CASH) and now it is implementing it under Sustainable Food Systems for Rural Resilience and Transformation (TRANSFORM) project in Dowa and Rumphi Districts. Investing in the horticulture sector can be a key to eradicating poverty, hunger and malnutrition, particularly in rural areas where most of poor people live. Different Horticulture value chains contributes to income generation, household economic welfare as well as promoting entrepreneurship and rural development. Through the review of a number of case studies of farmers in Mndolera EPA we can surely assert that horticulture can contribute to household economic well-being.

Many small scale farmers are highly risk-opposed and are always reluctant to invest in new innovations unless the returns are twofold. The challenge in growing maize, for example, is the length of time between each harvest and the risk of oversupply and low prices. Farmers are always encouraged and easily adopt an innovation when it is proved profitable compared to what farmers are conventionally practicing. As part of enhancing farmers’ investment decision, the African Institute of Corporate Citizenship (AICC) in partnership with the Norwegian Church Aid (NCA) introduced Micro Investment project called Commercial Agribusiness for Sustainable Horticulture (CASH) in different sections under Mndolera EPA in Dowa District. The Project has been promoting micro investment concept using drip irrigation technology where farmers are approached and requested to buy the micro-investment (MI) kits that comprises of the drip kit, fertilizer as well as improved seed.