Kitwe farmers still await inputs

Kitwe farmers still await inputs
By Darious Kapembwa in Kitwe and Christopher Miti in Chipata
Mon 19 Dec. 2011, 13:58 CAT

FARMERS from 127 co-operatives in Kitwe have not yet received fertiliser for the 2011-2012 farming season under the Farmer Input Support Programme (FISP) despite having made bank deposits for the same.

Hundreds of farmers who thronged the Kitwe district agricultural office on Friday complained that they had only received hybrid maize seed which they said could not be planted without fertiliser in place.

Iver Nyoni, who spoke on behalf of the affected farmers, told The Post in an interview that they (farmers) received the seed three weeks ago and were told to collect fertiliser last week on Friday but were shocked to learn that the commodity was not there.

"Maybe the government should just subsdise fertiliser so that all of us can get it cheaply on the market," said Nyoni. Because we have been coming here and we are always told to come next week, next week, but we have paid for the fertiliser and the amounts that we are talking about can be produced by Nitrogen Chemicals of Zambia," Nyoni added.

Nyoni said farmers feared that the planting period might elapse and they would experience hunger next year.

Farmers complained that there was no one at the DACO offices to explain to them the way forward which left them guessing.

A check at the District Agricultural Office found no official was available to talk to which also upset many farmers.

In Chipata, PF provincial chairperson Lucas Phiri has urged President Michael Sata to find a way of ensuring that Omnia fertiliser clears farmers who are taking long to get their subsidised inputs.

Addressing some Omnia staff when he checked on the fertiliser distribution at the Chipata depot on Friday, Phiri said President Sata being a man of action should find a way of addressing problems surrounding the fertiliser distribution by Omnia "Being the (Eastern Province) chairman of the ruling party, I will push my President to pay more money to the farmers that have not been cleared by (FRA). We have not come here to politicise the situation but we are here to find a remedy for our farmers so that they could go back fast," Phiri said.

He said it was very expensive for farmers to overstay at the sheds.
Phiri advised the staff not to politicise the input distribution by only serving PF members.

"For us it's ‘One Zambia, One Nation', we don't eat politics. Politics ended on the 20th September and now we won so we look after everyone. We as PF we want to be good to accommodate everybody," Phiri said.

He also promised to meet the provincial permanent secretary Eularia Mwale and provincial Omnia manager to see how the fertiliser problem could be addressed.

Omnia storesman Ganizani Phiri said the depot could only manage to release 5,000 bags of fertiliser per day.

He said the district agricultural office sent a lot of letters for fertiliser collection and that this had led to the congestion at the depot.

"We discussed this issue (with the district agriculture office) so the first two weeks of input distribution were okay but third week, it was worse, the DC (district commissioner) can bear me witness because he was here. After a month, they started following the normal procedure but they changed again. The number of farmers in Chipata is going up every year because in the past we never had this problem. So it is not possible to handle them at once. The only way we can handle this situation is by putting up a programme," Phiri said.

He refuted claims that some people were engaging in corrupt activities at the depot.

The farmers said Omnia had a shortage of manpower at the depot.
They also said transporters were inadequate.

The depot is overcrowded as some farmers wait for a number of days before getting inputs.