The Zambia Civil Society Scaling Up Nutrition has called for reforms in the manner in which the Farmer Input Support Programme is implemented in order to increase its effect on nutrition.
In a joint submission to the Parliamentary Committee on Health, Community Development and Social Services, the Zambia Civil Society Scaling Up Nutrition and the Centre for Trade Policy and Dialogue said FISP has failed to address the high levels of malnutrition in Zambia.
CSO-SUN Zambia Advocacy and Communications Manager Eneya Phiri said in addressing the malnutrition crisis, it is important to realize the emphasis placed on the various sources of nutrients in the Zambian diet.
He said the role of Maize in the promotion of optimal health for the Zambian population is an area of contention.
He said, “The “agriculture policy” in relation to the “FISP debate” in Zambia has been pursued without due consideration to nutrition and development.”
“While the debate focuses on removal of the subsidy to correct market forces, limited attention has been paid to the negative consequences of high maize consumption (75% Kcal.) In Zambia, there is a heavy reliance on staple consumption with vegetables at the expense of protein and fat intake.”
Mr Phiri observed that vegetable protein is not easily utilized by the body due to limited bioavailability and as such the quality of amino acids cannot be relied on to provide the required protein needs.
“Within the Zambian context, children receive bulk diets deficient of the necessary amino acids (animal protein) for them to achieve the required nutrient balance for optimal health. Due to imbalanced intake, body processes are starved of the required elements, essential for growth and development.”
Mr Phiri emphasised that to reduce malnutrition rates and in particular stunting, a deliberate policy that supports diversification of agriculture is necessary adding that what is more critical, is to have a deliberate policy that provides incentives for livestock production to allow for promoting increased per capita animal protein intake in Zambia.
“It is important to practically reform FISP and the Food Reserve Agency (FRA) so that they impact more positively on nutrition. The current maize policy is actually detrimental to nutrition, and the need to promote and support a diversified diet for Zambians,” he said.
He added, “Considering that Government has continued to implement re-distributive programs such as FRA and FISP, which largely account for close to 80% of the agriculture programme budget currently. We are of the opinion that Government needs to ensure that resource allocation to the agriculture sector also focuses strongly on diversification efforts not just in terms of crop diversification.”
Mr Phiri further observed that the E-voucher is being piloted at a time when farming inputs are at their highest.
He pointed out that the failure of FSP/FISP has been to fail to move the dial on rural poverty could be attributed to several factors, including the failure to successfully target poor farmers, with subsidized inputs going disproportionately to wealthier farmers.
“Delays in input distribution, poor fertilizer use efficiency among beneficiary farmers, Inadequate monitoring of program effects, Leakages, whereby inputs intended for the subsidy program are diverted and resold on the commercial market, Lack of an exit strategy for weaning off beneficiaries and crowding out of private sector fertilizer purchases and suppliers are some of the major failures of FISP.
Mr Phiri said another great concern is the high levels of spending on the input subsidies, which raises questions about the financial sustainability of the program.
“For example, from 2009 to 2015, FISP garnered an average of 30% of the total budget allocation to the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock,” he said.
Mr Phiri recommended the revising of the targeting criteria for FISP.
“It is important to do this so that women especially those expecting and those with children under the age of 5 who are likely to suffer from malnutrition. The use of e-voucher system has the potential to improve targeting of beneficiaries, it must therefore be spread across the country.”
Timely warning to powers that be