Choma District Commissioner Laiven Apuleni has instructed Omnia Zambia limited to expedite the issuance of inputs to beneficiary farmers under the government sponsored Farmer Input Support Programme(FISP) because time for planting is fast running out.
Addressing farmers at the Food Reserve Agency (FRA) sheds in Choma this morning, Mr Apuleni directed Omnia Zambia to ensure that deserving farmers receive their seed and fertilizer before December 15th, 2009.
The DC who visited the Omnia fertilizer storage sheds located at the FRA depot said government will not accept a situation in which farmers will receive seed and fertilizer beyond December 15 as doing so would be defeating a well intending programme on food production.
Mr Apuleni said though the process of input distribution started on a slow note, it is still important to ensure that seed reaches to farmers before the planting season is over.
He said Omnia Zambia should redouble efforts by increasing the number of loaders so that more trucks are dispatched with seed and fertilizer to outlying areas.
Mr Apuleni said the district administration will closely monitor the situation as government does not want to have problems with farmers over input distribution.
The irate farmers complained to the district commissioner against the pace at which Omnia Zambia, which has been contracted by government as warehouse manager under the FISP, was releasing and dispatching seed and fertilizer to rural areas.
They complained that most of them left their villages last week and had been spending nights in Choma without managing to access and load the allocated fertilizer and seed onto their lorries.
One of the farmers of Simaubi area in chief Mapanza’s area, Florence Hakwasiya, complained that she has suffered a great deal as she had been spending sleepless night in Choma since last Monday without managing to get the seed and fertilizer.
But Omnia Zambia warehouse manager for Choma depot, Ackson Zulu, assured the district commissioner the company has stepped up the dispatch of seed and fertilizer and is working on the target of dispatching 90 metric tones of inputs on daily basis.
Mr Zulu said the Omnia Zambia is working round the clock to clear the backlog of farmers who deposited money with government to access seed and fertilizer under the FISP.
Omnia has been contracted by government to distribute 32,800 by 50 killogramme bags of top dressing fertilizer, 32,800 by 50 KG bags of basal fertilizer and 16,400 by 10KG bags of seed to farmers in Choma district.
ZANIS
