Farm inputs subsidy payments extended, 1 600 to benefit
MBABANE - The Ministry of Agriculture has extended payments for the farm inputs subsidy, and 1 600 farmers will benefit.
This was said by the Minister of Agriculture, Jabulani Mabuza, yesterday morning during a press briefing on the extension of payments for inputs. He said once the ministry reached the 1 600 beneficiaries, the programme would be closed. The minister said when the programme was closed for this year, a lot of emaSwati came through with requests to reconsider the closing and find possible ways to accommodate such farmers.
Resources
Mabuza said the ministry had been looking for resources to accommodate the farmers. He further said it was in that regard that they announced that payments for the inputs subsidy had been extended by 1 600 beneficiaries.
“Each farmer will only be allowed to pay for only one hectare. Payments can only be done at EswatiniBank. EFTs are not allowed,” said Mabuza.
The minister announced that a total of 10 088 payments were made. About 9 960 payments were made towards maize, 125 for beans and three for sorghum.
On another note, Mabuza stated that the budgeted number of subsidised tractor hours was 55 500. He said currently there were 43 600 hours paid for and the balance was 11 900 hours. He said this meant that when the balance was exhausted, farmers would be expected to pay the full price of E480.
“Let me take this opportunity to thank you once again and encourage farmers to take advantage of the extension and pay immediately, to avoid being left out for both inputs and tractor hours,” said Mabuza.
He said the ministry and National Maize Corporation (NMC) were grateful to all Eswatini farmers who participated in the government input subsidy programme, implemented since the programme was launched.
Furthermore, Mabuza sensitised the public about an ongoing scam on social media. Mabuza said the scam was purported to rob emaSwati of their hard earned resources. Mabuza said any announcements were authorised either by the minister or the principal secretary.
Conjunction
It deceives emaSwati to think that the ministry in conjunction with Food and Agricultural Organisation are giving out grants to smallholder farmers.
“This could not be further from the truth, the ministry is not offering such grants. The ministry would therefore alert the public of this scam and emphasise that all activities of our activities are carried out through proper channels,” clarified the minister.
The media wanted to know what was the ministry doing to ensure that agro-dealers were paid on time.
In response, the minister said they would pay them despite the delays.
“It is true that at times, agro-dealers do not have enough liquid cash to allow the continuation of the programme. We clearly indicated that the agreements are between agro-dealers and NMC and will abide by every signed agreement. The problem that must be encountered would be with regard to payments delays,” he said.
Budget
Mabuza further stated that government had a budget of E152 million for this year’s programme. He said since government released money in quarters, a sum of E50 million was used already. Mabuza said government would continue to pay outstanding amounts.
He then apologised to the agro-dealers for the delays and pleaded with them to assist farmers as it was the rainy season. He said failure for them to help would mean no ploughing, resulting in a decrease in production.
“May they assist the farmers to plough as it is raining already. NMC will pay them shortly once the money has been released by government as I indicated that funds are being released in quarters. Itawufika masinyane,” he said.