Mon, 26 Dec 2016 10:26:20 +0000
By SANDRA MACHIMA
GOVERNMENT must revisit Farmer Input Support Programme (FISP) by engaging farmer groups in different localities to identify sus-tainable farmers so that only targeted individuals benefit from the pro-gramme, a small scale farmers’ representative Richard Mulubwa has said.
Mr Mulubwa observed that FISP in its current form has incorporated a lot of people who do not qualify to access inputs under the programme such as civil servants and other people who were not vulnerable.
He appealed to government to consider revising the programme so that only vulnerable benefitted from the programme, saying the new system should be seen to target only eligible farmers.
He said there were a lot of people who should not be on FISP because they did not qualify, because the programme was meant for vulnerable farmers to improve their livelihood, and not people like civil servants and businessmen.
He said President Lungu had shown commitment in improving the ag-riculture sector as evidenced by his directive that farming inputs be dis-tributed to all parts of the country within a week.
He said the directive was timely and would go a long way in assisting farmers access their inputs on time.
Mr Mulubwa said small scale farmers were now anxiously awaiting the implementation of the directive so that they could access their inputs and prepare for this year farming season.
“Usually you find that the money is released on time but that some rele-vant authorities responsible for distribution are the ones who were de-laying the process,” Mr. Mulubwa said.
He further appealed to the Government to address the complications at some banks that delay farmers from accessing their inputs under the new E-voucher system.
He has since called on all stakeholders to support the presidential di-rective and ensure that farmers received their inputs within this week, if the country was to produce good harvest.
