Mwea Rice Growers Multipurpose Co-operative Society (MRGM) was first established in 1964 under the name Mwea Irrigation Scheme Licensee Thrift Co-operative Society Ltd. The Society drew its membership from rice growers who were licensees (tenants) of the National Irrigation Board in Mwea irrigation settlement. In 1966, the Government of Kenya built the Mwea Rice Mills and allowed Society members to buy shares. As the existing bylaws could not allow members to invest in the shares, another Society, Mwea Farmers Co-operative Society ltd, was formed in 1967. The Societies were amalgamated under the name Mwea Amalgamated Rice Growers Co-operative in 1983 but later split into the current Mwea Rice Growers Multipurpose Co-operative and Mwea Rice Farmers Sacco in 1993.
MRGM is a vertically integrated business that is involved in the entire rice value chain from crop production to processing and marketing. Its business model involves supporting members to grow rice with an expectation that the members deliver the produce to MRGM mills for processing and marketing. MRGM members are provided with inputs and farm services (land preparation, agro-inputs, certified seeds and transport) on credit to support activities necessary during the entire crop season and in return supply MRGM with the rice paddy. Currently, MRGM has a membership of c.6,250 rice farmers. However, only 42% of these are currently active. MRGM’s aim is to increase the membership to 9,000 members by 2025 with 5,000 members (56%) remaining active.
Over the recent years, MRGM has been finding it a challenge to grow their active farmer base, increase farmer loyalty and reach their target market share of 30% of Mwea paddy trade. In order to achieve their market share target in a sustainable and cost-efficient way, they must address critical bottlenecks of delayed payments for paddy purchase to farmers and inadequate capacity to meet field services demand.
This study demonstrates that MRGM can meet their stated objective by: