Thursday, March 28, 2024

Government to start sensitising Luanshya farmers on FISP changes

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The Ministry of Agriculture in Luanshya district in the Copperbelt province is set to begin sensitising farmers on the minor adjustments to the Farmer Input Support Programme (FISP) ahead of the 2022/2023 farming season.

Luanshya District Commissioner, Once more Ng’onomo, said the farmers will be sensitised on the changes which include the movement from operating as farming cooperatives to individual farmers managing their process.

Mr. Ng’onomo disclosed that farmers will be expected to make individual deposits as opposed to previous collective deposits made by farming cooperatives.

He added that FISP will now include the use of biometrics for beneficiary farmers in the collection of farming inputs.

He said following the government’s recent clean-up of the farmers’ registers countrywide, individual farmers’ biometrics were obtained from the 2021 Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) voter register from which 6,117 farmers were captured and the ones not reflecting will have to be activated for them to benefit from the FISP exercise.

Mr. Ng’onomo indicated that Luanshya district has cleaned up the register, which has resulted in the reduction of the number of farmers from 9,021 FISP beneficiaries to 7,521.

The process allowed for the identification and elimination of ghost farmers and illegal beneficiaries such as civil servants and those in meaningful employment.

FISP beneficiary farmers will be expected to make a deposit of K400 and receive a 10 kilogramme (kg) bag of maize seed, three by 50 bags of urea and basal fertilizer, with either a 20 kg bag of groundnuts seed or a 25 Kg bag of soya bean seed.

4 COMMENTS

  1. Why subject citizens to a voter register when it is the right of zambian farmers not voters to access fisp. Citizenship is determined by birth and other ways not voter register.
    Just tell the people that the program is now for political supporters.
    Most real farmers will be victims here.

  2. No more cooperatives for farmers? Sad.
    Farmers paying K400 to receive three bag

    Government is encouraging formation of cooperatives before accessing CDF, but disband such groupings at farming level.

    3 x 50kg bags is in contrast to what our president promised in October, 2021.

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  3. Sorry to say this is not making sense the government is encouraging people in compounds villages to form cooperatives so they can access CDF and then disband farmer cooperatives , cooperatives are very important to farmers in the sense that enable farmers to own and control, on a democratic basis, business enterprises for procuring their supplies and services (inputs), and marketing their products (outputs).

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