TREAD CAREFULLY

GOVERNMENT must not rush into making arbitrary decisions involving the Farmer Input Support Programme (FISP) to ensure food security in the nation.

Judging from the public’s reaction to the planned

move by the government to remove some beneficiaries from the FISP, it is quite clear that the move is unpopular.

What makes it unacceptable is that it plans to remove those who are on the Social Cash Transfer scheme from accessing FISP.

Just what is the rationale behind this decision that we think is not in the best interest of the nation?

The technocrats behind this decision must explain how they came up with such a proposal that could just send more people into abject poverty.

But as those objecting have pointed out, the money that the so-called vulnerable get under the Social Cash Transfer is nothing to sing home about.

As Patriotic Front (PF) presidential hopeful Chishimba Kambwili pointed out yesterday, the the decision was retrogressive while expressing shock that the government decided to remove people who were on the Social Cash Transfer from the

list of FISP beneficiaries.

To highlight the plight of those being removed, Mr Kambwili took to the graveyard his lone protest against what he termed Government’s decision to remove vulnerable people from FISP.

He noted that the people under the Social Cash Transfer receive little money, which cannot help them buy farming inputs for this season

They get peanuts which cannot allow them buy a bag of fertiiser. They only receive K200 every month which is sometimes deferred.

The majority of those who benefit from FISP

small-scale farmers who have largely been responsible for the bumper maize harvest the country has been recording in recent years.

They have been able to do this against a backdrop of teething problems in the administration of FISP, what with some not being able to access farming inputs going into the next farming season.

But these bottlenecks have not deterred them from their farms, they have soldiered on to ensure that they are food secure.

What is obvious is that this plan has not been thought-through on the effects it would have on people on the ground.

What Government should do is to listen to people who deal with the farmers and listen to their suggestions.

Small-Scale Farmers Development Agency Executive Director Boyd Moobwe has said Mr. Moobwe said there is a need for the interests of farmers to be prioritised by introducing a programme that is

going to be beneficial to vulnerable farmers.

His suggestion is for the government to scrap FISP, which he said has faced problems since its inception and introduce something like the Comprehensive Agriculture Support Programme that he thinks is more viable.

We think the government must not be intransigent over FISP but should reconsider its decision which has not been bought in by the farmers themselves.

If anything, it must tread carefully rather than commit political suicide.