By Happy Mulolani
The Ministry of Agriculture has cautioned civil servants against accessing inputs under the Farmer Input Support Programme (FISP) because they are not eligible.
Chief Agriculture Economist Peter Zulu advised civil servants to instead access agriculture loans under the Sustainable Agriculture Financing Facility (SAFF) which is offering loans from K5,000 to K500,000 for different categories.
Mr Zulu disclosed that SMART Zambia has been tasked to clean up the Zambia Integrated Agriculture Management Information System (ZIAMIS) to ensure the system only captures and registers eligible farmers on the system.
Currently, ZIAMIS has 4,000,000 registered farmers. Only 1,024,434 farmers will benefit from FISP for the 2024/2025 farming season.
Mr Zulu disclosed that Luapula province has four districts under the Direct Input Supply (DIS); Chembe, Chipili, Mwansabombwe and Chifunabuli. While, the other six districts are on the electronic voucher. These include; Mansa, Kawambwa, Samfya, Nchelenge, Milenge, Chienge, Mwense and Lunga.
DIS has expanded the programme, which means farmers will have options of choosing among the following commodities; soya beans, rice, cowpeas, millet sunflower, sorghum, rice seed, groundnut, soyabeans. This is in addition to D-compound fertiliser, Urea and maize seed.
“Farmers are not supposed to benefit from more than one government programme, as it is the same pot. This will also enable more farmers to benefit,” Mr Zulu reiterated.
He further said farmers will be migrated to the electronic voucher at 100 percent next farming season.
Mr Zulu was speaking during a FISP/SAFF sensitisation meeting for all agriculture staff in Luapula province held in Mansa.
Luapula Province Provincial Agricultural Coordinator Godwin Chate urged staff to ensure they sensitise the farmers on this year’s modalities as outlined in the FISP manual.
Mr Chate encouraged agriculture field staff in the province to ensure farmers are well abreast with any pertinent information to effectively implement the programme.
Meanwhile, Mansa District Commissioner lreen Chivweta commended the government for supporting farmers through the FISP and SAFF programmes. These programmes will contribute towards the country’s food security.
Ms Chivweta vehemently stated that Mansa was one of the high productive areas, noting that the district target was 34,000 metric tonnes of maize and has managed to produce more than the set target.
“The district has produced over 80,000metric tonnes of maize which is a positive stride for the district and beyond,” Ms Chivweta said. –NAIS
