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Pay farmers their dues, Bishop Lungu urges govt

C0MMENT - Why are farmers paid in IOU's? Why are they not paid cash on delivery? It is almost as if no one is allowed to have money in Zambia.

Pay farmers their dues, Bishop Lungu urges govt
By Christopher Miti in Chipata
Sun 16 May 2010, 03:40 CAT

CHIPATA Catholic Diocese Bishop George Lungu has urged the government to ensure that farmers are given their money as soon as they sell their produce.

In an interview in Chipata on Friday, Bishop Lungu, who is also Zambia Episcopal Conference (ZEC) president, said farmers needed money urgently to solve their problems.

“Government should ensure that farmers are given money in good time after selling their crops. It shouldn’t be after five or six months. Why, what is the problem? If they Food Reserve Agency buy their maize let them give the farmers their money as quickly as possible because they need the money,” Bishop Lungu said.

“Again that’s another challenge because you see after selling they have receipts that show that they have sold their maize to FRA but they don’t have the cash. They are not going to use that receipt to buy things from the market, they are not going to use that receipt for the school fees and so on. They need cash.”

He said if the government buys maize in good time but fails to pay on time, the whole marketing exercise becomes fussy. Bishop Lungu said the government should establish markets close to farmers.

“Government should ensure that markets are close to a farmer and they did not give a chance to a briefcase buyer to reach the farmer first because people are desperately in need of money. They need money for school fees, they need for paying at the hospital,” Bishop Lungu said.

Bishop Lungu said markets should also be accompanied by good road network.
And Eastern Province FRA coordinator Godfrey Munyoro said the satellite depots had been increased in most districts of the province.

“I think FRA and the government have heard the cries of the farmers, so the satellite depots have been increased from seven to 15 in the province, apart from Chama and Mambwe. In Mambwe, we never used to buy maize there but last season we started in two satellites. But for this season the satellites in Mambwe have been increased to three,” Munyoro.

“Then in Chama we had seven satellite depots, six of which were being managed by FRA, then the seventh one was managed on behalf of Chama District by
Isoka District that is Chibale. So basically from the six that were being managed by Chama have increased to ten but if you include Chibale then you are talking of eleven satellite depots,” he said.

Munyoro urged the farmers to ensure that the maize was fully dry before taking it for sale.

Labels: CORRUPTION, DOMESTIC DEBT, FARMERS, FRA, GEORGE LUNGU, MAIZE

posted by MrK @ 4:15 AM