AGRO DEALERS PAID K826M

AGRO dealers have been paid K826 million out of the K1.2 billion that Government was owing, Agriculture Minister Michael Katambo has said. Mr Katambo said Government currently had a balance of K374 million, which he noted would be cleared soon. He said the Ministry of Agriculture was engaging the Ministry of Finance with regards to settling the remaining arears. The Minister was responding to Chikankata Member of Parliament Kabwe Mwiinga in Parliament who wanted to know why Government had not paid the agro dealers in full. Mr Mwiinga noted that non-payment of agro dealers by Government had caused many of them to stop distributing inputs to farmers. Mr Katambo, however, assured that Government was working hard to ensure it settled all the arears owed to agro dealers from the previous seasons. “It is important to note that the ministry has been making payment as and when funds are available to the agro dealers. As a Ministry we are engaging the Ministry of Finance so that we settle the arrears,” Mr Katambo said. And the Minister also indicated that Government was aware that some agro dealers in Chikankata district have stopped supplying inputs to farmers. He said this was so due to insufficient stock, especially fertiliser by some agro dealers. “The suppliers that these agro dealers engaged have been unable to supply them the quantity of fertiliser ordered,” he said. Mr Katambo also noted that in some cases agro dealers have stopped issuing inputs as they await payment from Government. He further said Government had since allowed national input supplier to issue input to affected farmers. “In districts where agro dealers are having supply constraints, Government is encouraging the national input suppliers to go to such districts including Chikankata,” he said.