Solwezi farmers demand refund for undelivered fertiliser

Solwezi farmers demand refund for undelivered fertiliser
By Ndinawe Simpelwe
Tue 08 Mar. 2011, 03:59 CAT

SOME farmers in Solwezi are demanding refunds from Nyiombo Investments for the non-delivery of fertiliser. The farmers in the district have not yet received their fertiliser for the 2010-2011 farming season.

In an interview, representative of the affected farmers John Kabaso said they had not received the fertiliser despite paying money to their cooperatives.
They complained that most of their maize had gone to waste because of a lack of fertiliser.

“We are afraid that there will be food insecurity in the area because our maize has gone to waste. It is not possible to save the crops now,” Kabaso said.

He said the farmers have asked their cooperatives to request for refunds from Nyiombo so that they could use the money on other income generating ventures.

Kabaso said they were disappointed with Nyiombo Investments for not delivering fertilisers on time because they were geared to produce enough maize for the district.

He appealed to the government to ensure they contracted capable firms to deliver farmers' inputs so that food security was achieved throughout the country.

“As small-scale farmers we are disappointed because we saw a bumper harvest coming from Solwezi but all that has been hampered by the failure to deliver fertiliser. In future government should ensure that they award contracts to capable organisations who can meet the demand,” said Kabaso.

Government had contracted Nyiombo Investments and Omnia to deliver fertiliser to small scale farmers in the country for the 2010/2011 farming season.

But several farmers across the country have complained of not having received fertiliser for this farming season. Nyiombo has not given its official position on the matter yet as efforts to get a comment from senior management have proved futile.