MANY farmers in some parts of Estern Province are marooned in their respective districts waiting for the scramble of fertilizer which has not yet started being distributed by the company which was contracted to deliver and distribute the commodity, Yotam Mutayachalo has disclosed.
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And Mr Mutayachalo, the Patriotic Front (PF) Chama North Member of Parliament has said there is a real possibility that farmers in the region would yet again be sharing fertilizer in medas (tins) because many cooperatives would not be able to receive the fertilizer in the recommended quantities. Mr Mutayachalo said farmers had started camping in districts waiting to collect their farm inputs packs because its distribution has been delayed by the company that was awarded the contract to supply, deliver and distribute the commodity.
He said most of the roads in the Eastern Province were still in a bad state and were likely to become impassable once the rains commence and that it would be difficult for farmers to be able to collect their fertilizer.
“We are having challenges with Urea fertilizer because farmers have not started collecting the inputs. Many farmers are now camping in the districts waiting for the fertilizer which is not being distributed. My appeal to government is that they should impress upon those who were given the contract to deliver and distribute fertilizer so that they can start the distribution and allow farmers to collect before the onset of the rains. It shall be difficult for farmers to collect and transport their farm inputs once the rains start,” Mr Mutayachalo said.
And Mr Mutayachla says farmers would once again start shareing fertilizer in medas (tins) because most members of the many cooperatives would be left out of the Farm Input Support Programme (FISP) after the government announced a loan scheme for farmers.
Mr Mutayachalo is concerned that the loan window government has introduced for farmers was going to negatively affect the farmers unless the process was expedited.
“This is going to affect the food security of the country unless government moves to expedite the loan process for the farmers. We are not going to reduce the price of mealie meal if we are going to end up with a harvesting season that is going to be poor. I can foresee that farmers will start sharing fertilizer against although government has warned to arrest those who would be found sharing the inputs,” Mr Mutayachalo said.
In the last two seasons, the mealie meal prices have escalated by more than 100 percent and this has largely been caused by poor delivery of even failure to deliver and distribute fertilizer in the right quantities and on time.
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