Kasempa District has started receiving farming inputs for the 2007-2008 farming season.
Kasempa Acting District Agriculture Coordinator, Manley Mazila, confirmed the
development to ZANIS in an interview in Kasempa today that 9,000 by 50 kilogramme
bags of Urea and Compound D fertilizer has been received so far.
“I can confirm that so far we have received 6,000 by 50Kg of urea, 3,000 by 50Kg of
compound “D” and 652 by 10Kg of maize seed and another 3,000 by 50Kg of compound “D” is expected next week”, he said.
Dr Mazila said the move was in line with the deadline set by government to
distribute inputs to all parts of the country by September month end.
He, further, disclosed that government had reduced the number of farmers intended
to benefit from subsidised inputs for 2007-8 farming season.
He explained that Kasempa has cut the number of beneficiaries from 2, 200 in last
farming season to 1,500 farmers this season.
Dr Mazila added that government does want small scale farmers to continue relying on
subsidies hence the need to reduce the number of beneficiaries.
He explained that Kasempa is second from Solwezi in terms of the number of
beneficiaries adding that the rest of the districts in the province will receive
less inputs.
“We are even better as a district because the rest of the districts in the province
have less beneficiaries, apart from Solwezi, which is the highest”, Dr Mazila said.
In another development, Kasempa has recorded a bumper harvest of over 88,000 by 50Kg bags of maize as compared to the 2005-6 farming season which had 83,000 by 50Kg bags of maize.
Dr Mazila attributed the good produce to good rainfall pattern and dedication by the
farmers.
“Another reason for the increase is that after Dunavant company with drew from
Kasempa, cotton farmers had no other option but to switch onto maize farming” Dr
Mazila said.
