Agriculture Minister Robert Sichinga has directed the Food Reserve Agency (FRA) in Kapiri Mposhi to secure all the stocks of maize it procured in order to avoid wastage and thefts.
And Mr Sichinga has assured farmers in Kapiri Mposhi district that have not yet accessed fertilizer under the Fertilizer Input Support Program (FISP) that the government will soon supply them with the commodity.
Mr Sichinga ordered the FRA to transport all the maize stocks from outlying satellite depots in the district to the main depot to safeguard it from wastage and thefts.
The Minister said the government has immensely invested in the production of maize and will not condone wastage and thefts of the commodity.
The Agriculture Minister said this when he inspected the main FRA maize depot in Kapiri Mposhi yesterday.
“We don’t want maize to be exposed to rain and other conditions that can damage it so we don’t have enough storage lets communicate so that the maize which is still in satellite depots is taken elsewhere or supplied to the milers”, Mr Sichinga said.
Mr Sichinga boasted that Zambia was the only country in the region that had surplus maize which it can also supply to other neighbouring countries that are experiencing deficits.
[pullquote]Mr Sichinga boasted that Zambia was the only country in the region that had surplus maize which it can also supply to other neighbouring countries that are experiencing deficits.[/pullquote]
During his tour of the FRA main depot Mr Sichinga discovered that the facility which has a total capacity to hold 15,000 metric tons only had 9,742 metric tons of maize in its sheds of which 4,070 was for 2012 while the rest was procured in the 2013 crop marketing season.
Mr Sichinga advised the FRA to utilize the remaining capacity in the sheds to safeguard the maize which is still in satellite depots across the district.
And Mr Sichinga has assured farmers in Kapiri Mposhi district that have not yet accessed fertilizer under the FISP that the government will soon supply them with the commodity.
He said government has concluded all logistic arrangements with Nitrogen Chemicals of Zambia (NCZ) and Nyiombo Investments to dispatch D-compound and Urea fertilizer to the district respectively.
Only 10,998 farmers have accessed D-compound while 1,250 have obtained Urea out of the total of 23,118 registered small scale farmers eligible to receive fertilizer in the district this farming season.
Yesterday, a hoard of FISP beneficiary farmers stormed Kapiri Mposhi District Commissioner’s office to complain about the delays in accessing fertilizer and demanded to be refunded their money which they deposited at various banks under the arrangement.
ZANIS
I cant stand the man, for no reason at all
Maybe because of his infidelities
Thanks
@Mushota. Perhaps not just infidelities but lying….lying…..lying. He has lied to so many concubines that he believes in lies in the morning, afternoon and evening. Where is FISP? How can you be talking about distribing fertilisers in January when this should have been done, latest late November last year???!! And how can you order FRA to do what they are supposed to do if at all there is a board and management? Ordering to secure maize from rains, yet rains have been with us from late December and only one down pour is enough to make the kernels rot or germinate in bags!!! Sichinga……malabisi…mambala…….
Who is Sichinga kidding? PF has no love for agriculture. Everyone in Zambia knows that. This is why they are now called Paya Farmer. Who distributes D in January? And who secures maize now when it has been raining from early December. If I was Sichinga I would go underground until about April, when the rains will have gone. Zambia will be in a maize deficit for the next two years. Infact by 2016, agriculture will be dead and it will be very easy to kick PF out. Noone ever though it would take PF just a year to send Zambia back to maize deficit days. Isnt Sichinga seeing the price of mealie meal now? What is the man talking about? Mushota you are right to hate the man.
Mioyombo again?????????
I don’t understand which maize he wants to be secured when truck loads of maize are being sent to the millers. Soon our reserve maize stocks will be depleted and he will regret having boasted of Zambia being the only country in the region with surplus stocks of maize.
The trueth is that Mr.Sichinga there is no maize for FRA to secure as you did not reach your target of buying the reserves and you off load in January to caution the price when in the actual sence these were meant for strategic reserve.Thus,Mr.Sichinga Zambia will have no reserves this year as all will be consumed by millers.
Paya farmer at work.Guy scott was the Minister of Agriculture when the country imported yellow maize and Sata was the Minister of Health.
Let the tribe and regional politics take the lead and the result is what we are seeing