Mwalyego PB 2018

Description

This group is named after their washing station in Mwalyego, a small town in Tanzania’s southern Mbeya district. AMCOS explains the rest – Agricultural Marketing and Cooperative Society’. We just call them Mwalyego (mwah-lee-ego). This is a 150 farmer strong group you can find by looking for a town called ‘Iwala’ on the map, about 10 miles west of Mbeya City, on the southern slopes of Mt. Mbeya. You can say that they are in the heart of Mbeya. That’s what the judges seem to say – Mwalyego has led the way in the country’s Taste of Harvest competition, some years sweeping the country’s top spots. They are struggling with their success; the better they do the more they pay members. The more they pay, the more members deliver, and the more who want to join. The more they receive, the more drying beds they need. The more drying beds they build, the better their coffee gets, and the more premims they have to pay out. It’s a vicious, virtuous cycle.