By Isaac Zulu Some traditional leaders in Kapiri Mposhi district have complained of inadequate farming inputs being distributed and fear this will adversely affect household food security. Speaking to Daily Revelation on behalf of other traditional leaders in Chief Chipepo’s area on the Western part of Kapiri Mposhi district, headman Kaswende said the government has repeatedly been saying all beneficiaries of FISP should get a full pack of farming inputs, which should translate into six bags of fertilizer and 10 kilograms of maize seed. However, the beneficiaries are being given 6 packs of fertiliser per cooperative of 12 members translating into three bags of fertilizer and 5kg maize seed per farmer. The headman urged the government to be sincere when making policy pronouncements about the agriculture sector. “Government is saying that each farmer should get a full pack. And a full pack comprises of six bags of fertilizer and 10 kg of seed. But you find that in a cooperative, we are 12 people and you are only given six packs. And there is no way you can give fertilizer to six people leaving out the other six cooperative members. So we are sharing the bags of fertilizer and seed. And in this case, we are getting three bags of fertilizer per farmer. This is our main complaint and needs serious attention from government authorities. Somebody somewhere should listen to our cries,” headman Kaswende said. Headman Kaswende said the government has been encouraging farmers to take farming as a business in order to promote the agriculture sector, but the distribution of inadequate farming inputs to small scale farmers is defeating policy pronouncements being made by government about the need to grow the agriculture sector. He said the government should be sincere about these policy pronouncements. “Already the rain pattern does not seem to favour us as small scale farmers. And now we have this situation where farming inputs are being rationed. This will negatively affect household food security and, ultimately, impact negatively on national food security because small scale farmers contribute significantly to food security,” said headman Kaswende. |
