Wed, 23 Jan 2013 09:11:34 +0000
NYIOMBO Investments Limited has refuted claims by government that it has failed to distribute inputs under the Farmer Input Support Programme (FISP).
In an interview with the Daily Nation company Operations Manager Kwazi Dlamini said that his company has distributed over 90 per cent of the required inputs under the 2012/2013 farming season.
Mr. Dlamini said that assertions from some government officials among them Ministers that the company had failed to distribute the inputs were incorrect and misleading to the members of the public and farmers.
“Reports that we have failed to manage the FISP programme or that we have failed to distribute the inputs is unfounded. Nyiombo has distributed over 90 per cent of the total requirement of the inputs for the 2012/2013 farming season. We were contracted to procure and distribute 93 000 metric tones of fertilizer and we have so far done about 82 000 metric tones and the remaining will be completed by next week,” he said.
He said that government should also realize that in the past ten years of the FISP programme, Nyiombo had successfully completed the distribution of inputs early this year.
Mr. Dlamini said that the claims by some government officials were unfair as the company had committed itself to all contractual obligations.
He revealed that the company had so far lost about K10 billion in transportation of the commodity because of the non functioning of the railway system.
“We had to change the mode of transportation of these inputs because of the non functional railway system and therefore, as a company we lost about US$2 million (K10 billion). That is how committed we are,” he said.
Mr. Dlamini also said that government should realize that the Anti-Corruption Investigation (ACC) on the company had also affected the distribution of the inputs.
He said that his company was part of the success the country had recorded in the past in the agriculture sector such as the past bumper harvests, adding, “even under difficult conditions we have worked tirelessly to ensure that we stick to our contractual obligations and claims by government that we have failed to distribute inputs are not only misleading but also unfounded.”
Last week Minister of Agriculture Emmanuel Chenda was quoted as having said that Nyiombo had failed to distribute the inputs under the FISP programme.
