S/Province agric officer orders expediting of inputs delivery

S/Province agric officer orders expediting of inputs delivery
Written by Lawrence Kabutu
Tuesday, November 11, 2008 7:08:49 AM

SOUTHERN Province acting agricultural coordinator Dr Adreen Nansungwe has directed senior agricultural officers and district committees in the province to expedite the delivery of agriculture inputs to farmers under the Fertiliser Support Programme (FSP).

Dr Nansungwe said the delivery of inputs to farmers should commence by next week as the province had started receiving rains.

He made the directive during the FSP 2008-2009 agricultural season workshop held in Choma.

He challenged senior agricultural officers to implement the FSP in accordance with the implementation manual as failure to doing so would result in disciplinary measures against erring officers.

The one-day workshop facilitated by FSP logistics officer from the programme coordination office Given Simalumba was attended by district agricultural coordinators, senior agricultural officers, district marketing and cooperatives officers and district agricultural committee chairpersons in the province.

And Simalumba disclosed that the FSP in the area was facing challenges as only two officers were managing the programme.

He also confirmed that the price for the 50 kilogramme bag of fertiliser was costing K50, 000 under the FSP.

Simalumba stated that any civil servant who will access the pack under the programme should be subjected to the conditions enshrined in the operational manual. Simalumba’s statement is however against the objectives of the FSP as it intended for vulnerable but viable farmers without the capacity to finance their own crop production.

And Southern Province senior cooperatives officer Grey Mwale said Southern Province had been allocated a total of 14,486.40 metric tonnes of both basal and top dressing fertiliser.

He further said a total of 36,216 farmers in southern province would benefit from the fertiliser support programme during the 2008/2009 farming season.

Mwale added that a total of 724.32 metric tonnes of maize seed has also been allocated to Southern Province for this season's input distribution exercise under the FSP.