By Isaac Zulu
Chief Chibale of the Lala speaking people in Serenje district says he has been personally inconvenienced by what he says the government’s terrible delivery of fertilizer, saying the weeds have emerged in the fields he already planted maize and now he has to start all over again.
Speaking with Daily Revelation, chief Chibale urged the UPND administration against trivialising the delayed delivery of subsidised fertiliser under the Farmer Input Support Programme.
He warned of adverse food security in the country, adding that is inconveniencing to small scale farmers, who mostly depend on government subsidised fertiliser.
“It’s terrible. And government should not trivialise this late delivery of fertiliser. Today is 1st December and yet not a single farmer in my chiefdom has received farming inputs. It is a fact that small scale farmers play a critical role in ensuring that the country is food secure. And this delayed delivery of fertiliser will have a negative impact on national food security. This is threatening household food security as well as national food security,” Chief Chibale said. “I am equally affected because I planted maize seed some time back and right now there are some weeds in my maize field. So I need to start weeding, almost starting all over again. It’s very inconveniencing.”
He further said that the UPND administration should have consulted widely before effecting changes in the procurement processes of fertiliser under the Farmer Input Support Programme.
“Before arriving at that decision where they made changes in the procurement of fertiliser, I think that government should have engaged in some wide consultations with key stakeholders in the agriculture sector. We hope this will not repeat itself,” said chief Chibale. “My humble appeal to the relevant authorities is that let them speed up the processes involved in the delivery of fertiliser to the farmers. We know it’s late, but let them quicken the process.”
