KAMFINSA FARMERS VENT OVER FISP
MORE than 50 farmers in Katoka Mema area and other parts of Kamfinsa constituency in Kitwe have said they need food for survival and so it is imperative that agricultural inputs are delivered on time for the sake of food security.
Ms Jennipher Chilombo, a 59-year-old farmer of Minsaka area said the new dawn administration failure to deliver agricultural inputs on time is not only an abrogation of its campaign promises, but also an act which may threaten food security
Ms Chilombo said the UPND which promised to be giving one farmer 12 bags of fertiliser, had not only failed to deliver inputs on time , but was subjecting Cooperatives of 50 people to share 12 bags of fertiliser with two 10 kilogrammes of seeds.
“If the Minister of Agriculture and his government have a conscience, they would have resigned after this agricultural inputs scandal. This is a scandal and a right thinking person cannot defend it. Wherever you go, people are complaining over this government for its lies, especially on agricultural inputs.
“People, farmers in particular are saying they cannot live on free education only, they need food to survive. Food comes with a proper plan of food security by delivering agricultural inputs on time. Failure to deliver agricultural inputs on time threatens food security,’’ Ms Chilombo said.
And Ms Maureen Banda, another farmer of Katoka Mema has said farmers cannot be celebrating the “Free Education” policy of government when it has failed to deliver agricultural inputs on time thereby threatening food security.
Ms Banda, said the late delivery of agricultural inputs will adversely affect food security in the area and that, even the Free Education Policy will not make sense because pupils or school children needed to eat before going to school.
Ms Banda said it was embarrassing that the new dawnadministration had failed to successfully implement the Farmer Input Support Programme (FISP), a situation which was likely to plunge the country into serious hunger and poverty. She said farmers in the area have not received agricultural inputs and they were not sure when they will receive the inputs because they have been told a lot of stories which have turned out to be lies.
“As you can see this has been an agricultural area where farmers produce between 100 and 250 x 50 bags of maize because of the support from FISP. Now, we are unlikely to record a good harvest because government has failed to deliver agricultural inputs on time.