Maravi

Chituwo bemoans abuse of FSP funds

Chituwo bemoans abuse of FSP funds
Written by Correspondent
Wednesday, June 03, 2009 4:16:19 PM

AGRICULTURE minister Dr Brian Chituwo has said there are some non-farming individuals forming fake cooperatives to benefit from the Fertiliser Support Programme (FSP). And Dr Chituwo has urged farmers on the Copperbelt to produce a lot of maize and meet the increasing demands of the commodity in neighbouring countries.

In an interview in Kitwe at the just-ended 52nd Copperbelt Mining, Agriculture and Commercial Show, Dr Chituwo said the abuse of FSP was an issue that needed to be dealt with so that the targeted people could benefit from it.

"As government, we are very concerned that some cooperatives only become active during the time of accessing FSP, which they later sell to the vulnerable farmers at a very high price," Dr Chituwo said.

"This is why we want to review the FSP so that we are able to strengthen our capacity and ability to identify the vulnerable farmers. This is an ill that needs to be remedied.”

And Dr Chituwo said smuggling of maize would be eliminated once farmers started producing huge quantities of the commodity for local consumption and exports.

“I want the word smuggling to be gotten out of the vocabulary and this can be done by producing a lot of maize that would meet the local demand and be able to export the surplus to the neighbouring countries,” he said.

“Once you are producing enough to feed the nation and be able to sell to neighbouring countries, then the word smuggling will no longer exist.”

He also advised Zambians to diversify from maize production to other food crops.

Dr Chituwo said while it was true that nshima was the staple food in Zambia, it was time for it to be substituted with other foods like sorghum, cassava, sweet potatoes and Irish potatoes.

He said diversifying from maize to other food crops like sweet potatoes, Irish potatoes and others would provide a variety of food for the Zambian population, instead of just relying on maize meal.

"While agreeing that nshima is our staple food, it is time we substituted it with sweet potatoes, Sorghum and others. Let us try to move away from Nshima," said Dr Chituwo.

Labels: BRIAN CHITUWO, CORRUPTION, FSP

posted by MrK @ 3:20 PM