Small scale farmers call for extension of ASP

Small scale farmers call for extension of ASP
By Joan Chirwa
Tuesday April 29, 2008 [04:00]

PEASANT and small-scale farmers in Zambia have called for an extension of the Agriculture Support Programme (ASP) for the next two years. In a petition to President Mwanawasa and signed by a total of 1,451 farmers from Northern, Eastern, Central and Southern provinces, they sought an extension of the ASP in its present form to allow the New Munda Credit Scheme to mature and become sustainable as a decisive factor in poverty reduction.

“The New Munda Credit Scheme offers peasant farmers low cost finance and does not require assets as security which was demanded in previous agriculture credit schemes with commercial banks.

Indeed, it is a solution to the so much sought for agriculture credit which has been one of the most serious constraints for the small-scale farmers in the country,” said Rodger Phiri, president of the National Association for Peasant and Small Scale Farmers of Zambia (NAPSSFZ).

“The phasing out of the ASP by June this year will be detrimental to New Munda Credit Scheme which still needs to fine-tune and consolidate the credit management approaches which are a critical factor in the continued partnership with Zanaco.

The petition to President Mwanawasa is to ask him to save the New Munda Credit Scheme and to allow it to mature in collaboration with ASP.”

The New Munda Credit Scheme is a model developed by the NAPSSFZ in partnership with the Zambia National Commercial Bank Plc, to promote sustainable agriculture credit, production and marketing while complementing government’s efforts in agriculture input supply to peasant farmers in the country.

The ASP, a Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) funded project operates under the Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives.

It has trained beneficiaries of the New Munda Credit Scheme in farming as a business and has built the capacity of the association in the management of the credit scheme.