FSP fertiliser goes missing in Mambwe, reveals DC
Written by Christopher Miti in Chipata
Friday, February 13, 2009 7:50:28 AM
MAMBWE district commissioner John Chilowa has said part of the
FSP fertiliser that was intercepted from unscrupulous dealers who were reselling the commodity in Chipata has been stolen.
Chilowa said about 36 bags of fertiliser were discovered to have gone missing early this week. He said one person had since been picked by police in connection with the matter.
“These bags were being kept at the council’s committee room and we discovered that some bags were missing when we wanted to get the bags to the farmers’ training centre for safe custody,” he said.
Chilowa said from the total of 76 bags of fertiliser that were confiscated, only 40 bags had remained.
Recently, the district administration expressed concern over the tendency by some Fertiliser Support Programme (FSP) beneficiaries to resell the inputs.
And chief Jumbe said it was unfortunate that some farmers who were supposed to benefit from FSP had no access to fertiliser.
He said the FSP was a very good programme which had been distorted by a few individuals.
“I would like to thank the government for introducing FSP but I must say there are very few baggers who want to distort it, for example some
people were selling the commodity that was meant for Mambwe in Chipata and I remember when I and the district commissioner directed people at the check point to impound vehicles that were transporting fertiliser from Mambwe to Chipata and for sure some fertilisers were confiscated,” he said.
Chief Jumbe urged the government to investigate people who were allegedly selling the fertiliser allocated to Mambwe district in Chipata.
Labels: CORRUPTION, FSP, JOHN CHILOWA
Read more...
Mambwe DC orders probe into abuse of FSP farming inputs
Written by Mathias Zulu in Mambwe
Tuesday, December 30, 2008 1:20:53 PM
MAMBWE district commissioner John Chilowa has directed the district agriculture coordinator to conduct thorough investigations on reports of abuse of FSP farming inputs this season.
Chilowa issued a directive following the disappearance of 120 bags of fertiliser and 15 by 10 kilogramme bags of seed believed to be for Luwaneni Co-operative and the impounding of 59 by 50 kilogramme bags of fertiliser which were about to be smuggled out of the district.
He confiscated the bags of fertiliser a week ago from an unregistered canter truck after a tip-off from members of the community.
In a later dated December 26, 2008, addressed to the district agriculture coordinator and copied to the Eastern Province permanent secretary and provincial agriculture Coordinator and made available to the National Agricultural Information Services, Chilowa expressed great disappointment at the manner in which the FSP programme was handled.
He stated that the mishandling of the FSP farming inputs had resulted in the district losing a good number of bags which had been smuggled to other districts for re-sale.
“You are no doubt aware of the government’s deliberate policy of alleviating hunger and poverty through programmes like the Fertiliser Support Programme,” stated Chilowa.
“I, however, wish to register my utmost disappointment at the way the programme was handled. This has definitely resulted in the district losing a good number of bags which have been smuggled to other districts for re-sale.”
Records from the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives in Mambwe show that the district received 3, 584 Compound D and 3, 584 Urea for the 2008/2009 farming season.
The amount received plus balances from the previous farming season brought the total number of inputs in the district to 3, 948 and 4, 069 for basal and top dressing fertiliser respectively.
The district targeted 1, 002 farmers but some farmers, despite paying for the inputs, had not received the fertiliser.
Labels: CORRUPTION, DISTRICT COMMISSIONERS, FSP, JOHN CHILOWA
Read more...
