Farmers get FISP assurance

GOVERNMENT will ensure farmers get their 20182019 farming season inputs and farmers must not panic, Agriculture Minister Michael Katambo has said.

Mr Katambo regretted that the distribution of farming inputs for this year’s farming season could not commence on September 1 2018 as promised earlier. He told the Daily Nation in an interview that this was because the Ministry of Finance had not yet activated the funds for the implementation of FISP and E-voucher programs. He has however assured the farmers that they would get their farming inputs as soon as the Ministry of Finance releases the funds. The Minister said he was confident that the funds would be released soon, saying that the Ministry was given an assurance by the Ministry of Finance. “Our main emphasis was that by September 1, we start the program. The Ministry is more than ready and all modalities have been put in place. All we are waiting for according to our budget is for the Ministry of Finance to release the funds and then we can start the program. “We have been assured by our colleagues from the Ministry of Finance, we have been engaging them at meetings and they have promised to do these things on time. “The farmers should be not panic, there is still time, it’s not yet rain season, the season will start late October. For now farmers should be busy depositing their contribution, immediately Ministry of Finance releases resources the whistle is brown,” Mr Katambo said. He added that it was ridiculous that some people were trying to politicise the issue of farming inputs. He said Government would ensure that the farmers get their inputs on time and shame those wishing for its failure. “Even if farmers start to receive inputs now, they still have time because they will start to use these inputs by end of October. So people should not even start politicizing this issue, because the farmers will get their inputs on time,” he said. Meanwhile, the National Union of Small Scale Farmers of Zambia expressed sadness with uncertainties surrounding the release of funds. Association Director General Frank Kayula said farmers need to have inputs on their doorsteps by October because the rains were imminent. “Agriculture doesn’t wait, why we don’t make these other projects wait a bit, because agriculture goes with a season and is dependent on nature,” Mr Kayula said. He proposed that agriculture matters should go beyond the Ministry and become a Cabinet matter because it is key to the country’s development. “Cabinet must take responsibility as a body, this issue of agriculture becoming an economic stay, it is not only for the Minister of Agriculture, this is an issue for the entire cabinet and the entire cabinet must take responsibility,” he said.