The Zambia Agency for People with Disabilities (ZAPD) has identified Namwandwe disabled community farm to receive free farming inputs this farming season.
ZAPD director general Dr Charles Mwape said in Mansa today that ZAPD last year gave free farming inputs to disabled farmers in the Southern province.
Dr Mwape said this year ZAPD will distribute free fertiliser to three groups in Luapula, Northern and North-western provinces.
He said in Luapula province the 44-hectare Namwandwe disabled community farm will be given priority because it is an organised group.
However, he has advised the group to register with ZAPD so that it can be a recognised member of the agency for it to continue receiving assistance.
Dr Mwape offered to pay the K500,000 registration fee on behalf of the group since it had no capacity to do meet the cost of membership with the agency at the moment.
He said he was offering to pay the ZAPD membership registration fee on behalf of the group because he was impressed with its zeal to become self reliant by starting a community farm.
The chairman of the group Brian Ngandwe told Dr Mwape that the group was growing beans on its 44-hectare farm and has also sourced cassava cuttings from Zambia Agriculture Research Institute (ZARI).
Dr Mwape said it is the intention of government through the agency to see to it that disabled people become part and parcel of development.
He said to do this the agency will immediately after completing putting in place a new structure start empowering the disabled with various skills including farming and carpentry.
He said the whole idea of the skill development programme is to aspire to change the negative perception that being disabled is being a beggar.
The ZAPD director general promised that the agency was going to support the plan to turn the Namwandwe disabled community farm into a settlement with irrigation facilities and shelter.
Dr Mwape was in Mansa on the directive of Community Development and Social Services minister Michael Kaingu to meet the group.
He said Mr Kaingu wanted him to meet the group because they had wheeled to Mansa hotel in July demanding an audience with President Rupiah Banda who was in the province to attend Mutomboko, but the President could not do so due to his busy schedule.
ZANIS
Don’t use the fertilizer for election campaigns, the fertilizer is for the disabled farmers.