Business Plan Matta Paung Ku Producer Organisation Ma Yin Village, Myeik Township: Producer Organisation offering local manufactured animal feed and input supply shop

Abstract

Ma Yin village is located in the Ma Zaw village track about 43 miles away from Myeik Township. The village is accessible from the junction of the East part of Ma Zaw Pyin Gyi Road. The major livelihood in the village is seasonal highland crop farming and subsistence pig rearing. Some households are also engaged in subsistence paddy production in the nearby surrounding villages. Traditionally, the villagers raise indigenous pigs as a savings mechanism to cover household expenses, debt and unexpected expenses such as funerals and other personal emergencies. Typically, these pigs are raised with minimal production costs as they are fed with household food waste and little to no housing. Lack of coordination among the villagers resulted in high transportation costs of commercial feed from Myeik Township. Villagers did not venture into hybrid pig production because of high feeding cost, lack of investment in proper shelter and in adequate access to animal health workers and lack of knowledge in raising hybrid pigs. The Matta Paung Ku produce group was initiated in November 2018 by the TRRILD project with the support of World Vision Project Staff. A few months after being constituted as a producer group, the decision was taken to collectively purchase inputs in bulk from the Myeik Township. Within the first 6 months, the group transacted approximately 15000 kg of feed with a value of 12,500,000 of MMK. Realising this opportunity, we decided to expand the PG business to an input retail shop servicing our members and non-members in the surrounding villages (see appendix 2). Due to our hard work, commitment, unity and functionality, our PG was prioritised as a candidate Producer Organisation by the TRRILD project in January 2019. Since then, we have hosted many exposure visits to share our experience with other TRRILD producer groups (see appendix 2). Due to our collective success, we have successfully lobbied for improved road access to our village from the local authorities. This has facilitated the growth of our business as it has become more accessible for customers. Our producer group and members have also benefited significantly from technical support from World Vision in terms of business training and hybrid pig production training. Currently, we have two animal health workers in our PG providing vaccination and ear tagging services to our members. We acknowledge that developing this enterprise plan is essential for our future plans as we seek to engage our members, business partners, donors and formal lenders. In addition, this plan will assist us in understanding the investments required, the associated risks associated and the expected returns and benefits for the PG and its members. In the remainder of this enterprise plan, we present a concept note of our proposed business strategy, the institutional arrangements that will support our strategy, a one-page business canvas and a forecasted cash flow.