PROBE AGRIC SABOTEURS

GOVERNMENT should treat revelations that a cabal of 10 unpatriotic non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and an opposition political party have hatched a plot to cause a massive failure of the agriculture sector in the next farming season to make the government unpopular with the seriousness they deserve. The dangerous cartel should not be allowed to have its way because the results and impact on ordinary Zambians, especially vulnerable citizens, could be catastrophic. We agree with the call by the Small Scale Farmers Development Agency (SAFADA) that Government should investigate the cartel’s activities and sinister agenda because it has the potential to cause a serious breach of peace in the country. As SAFADA executive director Boyd Moombye said the Indaba Agriculture Policy Research Institute (IAPRI) should expose the 10 NGOs to help relevant government wings with investigations. Mr Moombye said President Edgar Lungu and Minister of Agriculture Michael Katambo should take the matter seriously because many farmers would be affected. We echo his clarion call; that the conspirators be exposed as soon as possible and remedial measures implemented to ensure the nation does not go through the e-voucher fiasco it experienced in the last farming season. The chaotic and failed implementation of the technology-based system has left thousands of small-scale farmers in misery. It has also knocked many agro dealers out of business because Government has not paid them for the inputs they supplied to farmers. The suggestion that the old system be used in the next farming season therefore makes a lot of sense. A whistle blower from the Indaba Agricultural Policy Research Institute (IAPRA) let the cat out of the bag last week. The patriotic citizen revealed that the conspirators recently held a meeting at which they resolved to pressure the Ministry of Agriculture to go ahead with the failed e-voucher system of distributing subsidised farm inputs to beneficiaries of the Farmer Input Support Programme (FISP). Their objective is to instigate the implementation of the e-voucher system so that when it fails and causes a total failure of the sector they mobilise citizens to remove the current government from power. After failing to engineer regime change using the political front despite the massive resources they have been receiving from their foreign sponsors the schemers have turned to agriculture where they have identified serious policy weaknesses. The said the plan was to push Government into succumbing to distributing inputs using the e-voucher system despite financial constraints so that farmers do not get their inputs on time as a way to incite them against government. This, the source said, is contrary to what the Zambia National Farmers Union (ZNFU) had proposed. The union had urged Government to revert to direct distribution of the inputs for this season and to dismantle arrears owed to agro dealers. Under the well-intended e-voucher system each beneficiary farmer is expected to deposit K400 with an agro dealer (loading) while the government is expected to top up to enable the depositor to access not only seed and fertiliser as was the case under the old system but also chemicals and implements. But its implementation was last year marred by serious administrative hiccups which led to the failure by many farmers to access inputs despite loading their accounts. Some of the problems were poor or lack of internet connectivity, late release of top-up by the government and crooked agro dealers who swindled the poor farmers. One of the positives in the electronic system is that it effectively identified and erased ghost farmers from the beneficiary roll, whom some corrupt cooperative officials and government officers had been using to steal from the government. As SAFADA and the Zambia National Farmers Union have proposed Government should not insist on farmers depositing the K400 but revert to the old system until all the bottlenecks have been identified and removed from the e-voucher system. The foreign-funded NGOs and their opposition party ally should not be allowed to endanger this country’s peace in their pursuit of regime change.