The Small Scale Farmers Development Agency (SAFADA) says the Farmer Input Support Programme (FISP) given to farmers across the country has successfully helped many small scale farmers in the past three years.
SAFADA Executive Director, Boyd Moobwe, said the programme of providing poor but viable farmers with farming inputs should continue in order to alleviate the suffering of small scale farmers in rural areas.
Speaking to ZANIS in an interview in Lusaka today, Mr Moobwe said farmers appreciate the gesture being extended to them by the Patriotic Front administration.
Mr Moobwe, however, said Government should increase the number of beneficiaries in the Farmer Input Support Programme.
He said although many farmers have benefited from the scheme, there is a general understanding from concerned stakeholders that some of the farmers intended to benefit from this programmes are left out in preference for those who have enough income.
Mr Moobwe said the move is retrogressive and there is need to be reversed if the country’s agricultural industry is to continue to grow for the benefit of citizens as well as the nation.
And Mr Moobwe has called on the private sector, Government and the Zambia National Farmers Union (ZNFU) to start discussions for the 2013-2014 farming season in order to have adequate preparations.
Mr Moobwe said the syndrome of hurried preparations in the agricultural industry hampers the growth of the sector and urged Government and other concerned stakeholders to make early plans in order to reduce many challenges farmers face in the country.
Meanwhile, Mr Moobwe has called on the Food Reserve Agency (FRA) to quickly finish paying off the remaining farmers across the country who supplied maize during the 2011-12 farming season.
Mr Moobwe said thousands of farmers are spending nights at some FRA depots waiting to be paid their dues.
He said now that Government has released the money to pay all the farmers who have not yet been paid, it is up to the agency to expedite the process.
He added that the FRA needed to be strengthened in the way it is currently operating.
Mr Moobwe said delays to pay farmers on time contribute greatly to poor harvest because farmers fail to purchase farming inputs on time.
ZANIS
Your observation is true but it is a costly exercise for the government. First GRZ through FISP subsidises your fertilizer which you buy at K50,000 instead of K285,000. Then after you produce, GRZ through FRA buys your maize at K65,000 per 25kg bag. Again GRZ pays a lot of transporters to take maize from satellite depots to holding depots and finally to the main Reserves. Meanwhile exporting the excess of it to SADC countries is a K40,000 per 25kg bag. That’s a loss.
A house is not a home unless it contains food and fire for the mind as well as the body. Benjamin FranklinÂ
So with this background, where does this guy expect GRZ to take excess maize if every villager is put on FISP? Some of these organisations are damn ignorant! The side of the equation we call government, where does it get the collosal amounts of money it spends on this logistically huge undertaking? Print? No, the current scale is OK. Actually, Zambia’s population can be fed by 500 or less highly mechanised commercial farms. It is only that farming is the only pre-occupation for rural folk.
This program has been running 4the last 10 yrs.how come farmers have jst seen the benefits the past 3yrs.u mean the other 7yrs was complete waste of resources supporting farmers.the report is misleading.
FISP is not a “PF gesture”. It is the cornerstone of the MMD’s agricultural revolution. It is now under threat due to the incompetence of Sata and his minions of the slash and burn fame!
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