By NATION REPORTER
IT will be folly for government to phase out the Farmer Input Support Program (FISP) instead of investing more in it to take advantage of business that has come with the increasing demand for maize in the region, says former defense minister George Mpombo.
Dr. Mpombo said it was shocking that government was contemplating on FISP, a program that has proved to be working and effective because Zambia was the only country that still has non-GMO maize in the region.
Defence Minister Ambrose Lufuma disclosed that there was a tremendous demand of mealie meal and maize from Zambia’s neighbouring countries with Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has already made an advanced payment of US$15 million to Zambia for the supply of mealie meal to that country, Kenya and Tanzania making a request for 1 million metric tonnes of maize each.
Dr. Mpombo said currently the demands coming from outside were a threat to Zambia’s food security and the country must ensure that they were harvested for local consumption.
He said government must make sure they pumped in more money into FISP for the coming farming season so that they could satisfy the demand in the region and earn foreign exchange.
Dr. Mpombo said it was shocking that government wanted to phase out a program that has produced massive dividends to the small-scale farmers and the nation at large.
He said UPND was politically embarking on a suicidal mission because the consequences of their planed action would attract a massive backlash from the farmers.
Dr. Mpombo said what government was supposed to do was to consolidate the benefits of FISP and start improving on its performance.
“Right now FISP was delivering and it would achieve wonders if more measures were put in place to streamline operations like the problems of misapplication,” he said.
He also said the priority should not even be to service the yawning market in the religion but it should aim at making the staple food available and affordable in the country.
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