Maravi

Sichilindi warns Monze farmers against forming illegal bodies

Sichilindi warns Monze farmers against forming illegal bodies
Written by Pride Bwalya in Monze
Thursday, June 04, 2009 11:40:06 PM

FARMERS in Monze district have been warned against forming illegal cooperative societies to dubiously obtain fertiliser under the government’s fertiliser support programme (FSP).

Addressing small-scale farmers from different cooperative societies at farmers training centre in Monze on Wednesday, district cooperatives inspector Godfrey Sichilindi said farmers that would be found wanting during the 2009/2010 farming season would be prosecuted.

Sichilindi said during the 2008/2009 farming season, a number of illegal cooperative societies were discovered and had brought up a lot of confusions in the FSP exercise in Monze district.

He said there were situations where some illegal cooperatives were registered under the same name of genuine ones and managed to swindle the genuine cooperatives by accessing the inputs.

Sichilindi said this season, distribution of farming inputs under the FSP could begin much earlier compared to last year, adding that fertiliser could be delivered to the district very soon.

And Zambia Police Service sub-inspector under the Criminal Investigation Department, Dickson Sumpa, told the farmers that there were a number of cases reported to the police on matters of malpractices concerning the FSP.

Sumpa said it had been observed that problems were actually emanating from the executive members of some cooperative societies who were not being honest in their dealings.

He said cooperative societies did not belong to chairpersons but to members that came together for a particular purpose and that they all needed to benefit from the initiative.

Sumpa said some chairpersons were collecting a lot of money from members exceeding the amount of fertiliser allocated to their cooperatives which was against the guidelines.

He said executive members were supposed to ensure that cooperatives were managed in line with the guidelines and the cooperatives constitution provided.

Sumpa said executive members needed to handle the responsibility of collecting the inputs under FSP during the distribution exercise, adding that police would not hesitate to take action against those who would be reported for any illegal act in the distribution of the FSP inputs.

Meanwhile, co-operative societies in Monze have been called upon to uphold integrity and high moral standards that would contribute effectively to the social economic development of the country.

District agriculture coordinator Justine Ngosa said this when he officially opened a two-day mushroom production training workshop for cooperative societies at Monze farmers training centre (FTC) on Wednesday.

Ngosa said a number of cooperatives could not uphold integrity and high moral standards due to lack of transparency and accountability.

Labels: AGRICULTURE, FARMERS, FSP, FTC, GODFREY SICHILINDI, JUSTINE NGOSA, MONZE

posted by MrK @ 10:44 PM