CCJP hails ZNFU

THE Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP) in North Western Province has commended the Zambia National Farmers Union (ZNFU) for its plans to do away with the Farmer Input Support Programme (FISP).

CCJP coordinator John Kalusa told the Daily Nation in an interview that the union's plans were welcome though it should be a plan that will surpass the current one.

He said the union must have realised that FISP was not helping farmers hence arriving at the decision.

"Plans by the Zambia national farmers union to come up with a separate package of assisting farmers should be commended provided the model will be helpful to farmers," Mr Kalusa said.

He said farmers should see change in the new programme by improving their livelihood through farming.

Mr Kalusa appealed to ZNFU to come up with a programme better than FISP if meaningful change in farmers could be seen.

"The new programme should be tailored in a way that it helps farmers to move from one level to another,” he said.

He stated that it will not be of help to remove farmers from FISP and introduce them to a programme whose standard was below FISP.

"We need a programme that will see farmers in the next three to four years graduate from one level to another because that is the only way we can fight poverty among farmers,” he said.