Government has apologized to farmers in Northern Province for this season’s disastrous fertilizer distribution programme.
Northern Province minister Col. Gerry Chanda says this year’s Farmer Input Support Programme (FISP) has been a disaster
“ This year’s FISP programme has been a disaster and an embarrassment to government because we made a mistake by picking Nyiombo Investment to carry out the fertilizer distribution programme, “ he sad.
Farmers in the province, like the rest of the country, have cried foul over the late distribution of farming inputs this farming season.
Some farmers have complained that the delay had destroyed their crop as some of them were receiving D-compound fertilizers when there maize was almost tussling.
But the minister has explained that the late distribution of fertilizer was not the government’s intention.
He said government was equally disappointed by the performance of Nyiombo, adding that farmers must expect a remarkable improvement next farming season as the exercise will be handled differently.
Col.Chanda said during the few weeks that he had been in office he had discovered that Northern Province was a farming province with beautiful land that had the potential to feed the entire Southern African region.
He stated that government was planning on employing a deliberate policy that will enable farmers produce a bumper harvest to flood the market and leave enough for export.
‘’The market in the Great Lakes Region is open. Let us diversify from fish and go into farming and produce enough……even the smuggling of mealie-meal we are complaining about will be no more because we are going to grow enough for export,’’ he told the businessmen.
Col. Chanda said there was no need for the country to be poor when there was a lot of land around.
And addressing concerns of intermittent power supply and load shedding by ZESCO, Col. Chanda noted that government had engaged the Chinese to construct the Lunzuwa Hydro-power station in Mpulungu with capacity to produce over 14 megawatts.
He said government was mindful of the fact that no meaningful development can take place in the absence of steady power supply.
‘’When completed this plant will be critical for businesses to flourish as there will be no load shedding or unnecessary power outages,’’ Col. Chanda said.
He also said government had paid special attention to the development and upgrading of Mpulungu Harbour by expanding the port and putting up of new and modern infrastructure.
‘’The most important thing we need to do at the moment as government is to create an enabling environment where every business will flourish, ‘’ Col. Chanda said.
On the other hand, a local businessman Michael Sikazwe appealed to government to put up modern infrastructure in Mpulungu and market its tourism potential within and outside the country.
‘’The only difference between Mpulungu and Livingstone is in infrastructure……otherwise they have Victoria falls we also have Lake Tanganyika, only this far end has been neglected,’’ Sikazwe said.
He said there was also need for a serious investor in Fish and Mango processing because the two commodities were abundant in the area and usually went to waste.
ZANIS
among the few honest men in PF who can admit failure. Thx COLONEL God be with you as we look at trying the next government in UPND.
DO U THINK upnd WILL EVER BE IN POWER? CONTINUE DREAM WITH UR BANCH OF TONGA GROUP WHO HAVE ASSEMBLED THE SO CALLED PARTY AND AT THE TIME INSULT THE BEMBA’S WHO ARE IN MAJORITY OVER 53% OF THE TOTAL POPULATION OF OUR COUNTRY—-FOOLISH MAN
Am bemba and have fallen in love with UPND…Debate issues and not silly tribalist nonsensical cheap talk. who is talking about bembas here or tongas. we are talking parties we mbwa we. you can come in nakonde and find me if you want a fight.
at least Gerry can face up to PF mistakes unlike millions of those blind nutty head followers of satana
We are fed up of your lame excuses about input distribution. We shall not eat your apologies. You just dont understand what agriculture is all about. How can you distribute top dressing fertilizer first and later take basal dressing fertilizer? It just explains how dull the govt is or perhaps the people involved in the input distribution. The same mistakes year in and year out are made. GIGO. Where did you learn of agriculture? Some of us it is inborn.
Mwanawasa and RB are the only Presidents who have done well in Agriculture. The others dont have a clue on it. The mealie meal shortages will chew them just wait and see!
“He stated that government was planning on employing a deliberate policy that will enable farmers produce a bumper harvest to flood the market and leave enough for export”
this quote tells it all. they are ‘planing on employing a deliberate policy’. this means that currently non-exists. this is more than a year and these guys do not have a plan in place? and yet when they care called CNP, they complain
He’s just confirming what all reasonable people already know! They are not called CNPs for nothing!
@Walasa, if you took time to read their manifesto you wouldn’t be the least bit surprised. The ultimate goal for them was to gain power, nothing beyond that was a priority. We are dealing with a group that specialises in politics and nothing else…the term “empty tins make the loudest noise” was made specifically for PF.
Muli bachabebechabe ba PF, except Gerry Chanda & Guy Scott, just because musungu.
Its not nyiombo but your heads.Why didn’t nyiombo fail all the past years?
because they are mmd sympathisers…
heh heh heh!! hah ah hah ah hah!!… yaba mwindepula kunseko guys.
i surely have to give you this one, you guys have the ‘never say die..’ hearts.
woophs! the way you console yourselves over nothing is really beyond me.
its a ‘losers soothing each others..’ situation here and am just feeling sorry for you guys to even think of a change of govt. in the near future going by the way you insult your leaders and your opposition you try to prop up as alternatives..!
this is all the reason why pf will make sure that they rule this country beyond this generation.
U have taken all the time to write a useless post sure?! Never write a post without your head on again.
we jst need to look for new answers and those Advocating gov’t change are RIGHT, we gave PF change they r of no gd to the Nation, now we have Chipimo,HH and Magande. We jst have to move forward than mourn.
Garry Chanda its chickens have come home to roost. Let Sata apologise to Zambians for the unfulfiiled promises made during his campaigns lor elections. Failure to do so will re inforce that Bembas are truly LIERS.
“Govt. Apologises for late FISP distributio” kabimba talked of teething problems in PF, but they behave as if they have any teeth to do anything. Dr. Kaingu while on Muvi TV special assignment challenged PF to show the nation just one pit latrine that the PF started and have completed- Nothing. Just over one year in power mealie meal has reached record high in price. When their general secretary talks , even himself does not understand what he says. Try him for your lawyer your opponents will be smiling all the way to the courtroom. The shallowness of PFs IQ opens itself even to the dullest Kaponya.
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