Maravi

Fertiliser subsidy was an election gimmick – Scott

Fertiliser subsidy was an election gimmick – Scott
Written by Mwala Kalaluka
Sunday, January 04, 2009 7:11:35 PM

RUPIAH Banda's increase of fertiliser subsidies were just an election gimmick, Patriotic Front (PF) vice-president Guy Scott charged yesterday.And chairman for the Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture Request Muntanga yesterday said the MMD government's politically-motivated decision to entice non-vulnerable groups into the FSP has bred serious corruption in the country.

Commenting on reports of misapplication of farming inputs in various parts of the country, Scott accused President Banda of carrying out the distribution of subsidised fertiliser under the Fertiliser Support Programme (FSP) in a very sloppy manner.

“This huge fertiliser handout was just an election gimmick and we are going to have a very poor season because the commercial farmers are going to plant just half of what they usually plant because of the problems of fertiliser,” Scott said.

“The whole FSP exercise is just a waste of time and if you start opening the door to people who are not vulnerable farmers, these are the people who will buy the cheap fertiliser. This is the trouble. This is why the Soviet Union failed and this is why all these systems failed.”

Scott charged that President Banda's administration had not put in place serious logistical monitoring mechanisms to back the increase of fertiliser subsidies.

“This is a major logistical undertaking and you need proper information and there are no such logistics in place,” he said. “Even if there was no theft, by the time the fertiliser is distributed, it is past the time for planting. These subsidies are being wasted because they are not reaching the people on time.”

Scott said food shortages would continue as long as the current government did not come up with a clear plan on fertiliser distribution.

And Muntanga said President Banda's government should shoulder the blame for such corrupt tendencies because they had enticed people that were not farmers to access the cheap FSP fertiliser.

Muntanga said it was unsustainable and unrealistic to expect that the FSP would be devoid of any corrupt activities when the price of the government subsidised fertiliser was way cheaper than the one being sold by other fertiliser dealers.

“The extension officers are some of the people that are selling the fertilizer. They have started using it as a fundraising venture,” he said.

“We have decided to reduce fertiliser only for a small section while the other remains at the market price of around K200, 000.”

He said a lot of officers in the agriculture sector would be fired because the subsidised fertiliser had excited most of them to start misapplying the inputs at the expense of the vulnerable farmers.

Muntanga said from one pack alone, an individual could pocket about K22 million.

Muntanga said the only way forward was to have a general subsidy on fertiliser inputs within the agriculture sector.

“These profiteering middlemen will not go forward,” he said. “Our view is that if you generally subsidise fertiliser, you will kill corruption.”

But Muntanga said the MMD government had exacerbated the corruption in the distribution of fertiliser through the inclusion of civil servants and military personnel in the FSP bracket.

Muntanga said the inclusion of the above group defeated the purpose the FSP was created for as civil servants and soldiers had monthly incomes with the capacity to buy off the fertiliser and resale it at blotted prices.

“It means that that the 200,000 farmers targeted will not be 200,000. You must understand that farmers must be actual farmers in the field,” said Muntanga. “This is the confusion that the MMD caused.”

Agriculture minister Dr Brian Chituwo could again not comment on the matter as he was reportedly attending another meeting by press time.

Labels: CORRUPTION, ELECTIONS, FERTILIZER, FSP, GUY SCOTT, RUPIAH BANDA

posted by MrK @ 7:12 PM