Sat, 26 Jan 2013 14:33:00 +0000
The Civil Society for Poverty Reduction (CSPR) has expressed disappointment over government’s failure to distribute fertilizers in some parts of the country.
CSRP board chairperson John Lijimu said that government’s failure to distribute the inputs on time had already affected the 2012/2013 farming season and it was likely to yield a poor harvest.
He also said that there was no need for Agriculture Minister Mr Emmanuel Chenda to blame companies that were engaged to distribute fertilizer to farmers in some parts of the area, because it was government’s failure not the distribution agents.
Mr Lijimu explained that food security was under threat due to poor distribution of fertilizer under government Farmer Input Support Program (FISP).
He said that the failure had jeopardized the farming activities in some parts of the country, adding that the nation should expect poor harvest for this farming season.
“It is disappointing that even the Minister of Agriculture is saying that he is disappointed with the poor distribution, when he was supposed to ensure his Ministry monitored the exercise in the first place to avoid all these challenges that will affect the farming activities in many parts of the country,” he said.
He said the 2012/2013 Farmer Input Support Programme (FISP) is a failure as time for farmers to make use of the fertilizer had already elapsed, adding that the expected bumper harvest would not be achieved.
He said poverty levels in the country were high and government should consider making agriculture a priority to eradicate the levels, adding that the scenario would continue if the government does not consider giving more support to the sector.
“This is really saddening to see that the sector that is supposed to boost the country’ s economic growth was not given the total support it deserves, and how can the country reduce the poverty levels in such a way?” he asked.
Mr Lijimu said the government should realize that Agriculture was the main engine of any rising economy in the modern world if only properly handled.
