Luangwa District Commissioner, Luke Chikani, has flagged off the distribution of the farming inputs under the Food Security Pack (FSP) programme to over 2,100 vulnerable but viable beneficiaries in the district.
Mr Chikani said the government’s vision is to ensure that every household that is vulnerable but viable in the country has enough food, hence the continued implementation of the food security interventions programmes.
The media reports that Mr Chikani, who was represented by Luangwa District Administrative Officer, Prisca Kabosha, encouraged farmers to produce as much crops as possible in order to ensure domestic food security.
“Please do not sell these farming inputs that you are receiving today because they are meant to improve the livelihoods of you and your families so that you can be food secure,” he said.
Mr Chikani further advised the farmers to be wary of the possible devastation of their crops by wild animals, urging them to be proactive by protecting their fields from invasions by elephants.
And Assistant Luangwa District Community Development Officer, Harriet Phiri, explained that this is the last time the current beneficiaries are receiving the FSP farming inputs because they have been on the programme for three years now.
Ms Phiri said the beneficiaries can only be on the programme for three years where they get two bags of D-Compound fertilizer, two bags of Urea, ten-kilogramme bags of maize and bean seed.
She explained that the FSP beneficiaries are then weaned off to other social protection interventions such as Farmer Input Support Programme (FISP).
“Since this their last year on the programme, these beneficiaries will not be paying back any recoveries, making the FSP inputs a gift to them from the government,” she explained
Ms Phiri clarified that the beneficiaries pay back recoveries from their yields in the first and second year, saying the money is meant to help improve their operations by purchasing equipment such as hummer mills, egg incubators and sewing machines that will benefit the entire community.
She underscored the need for the beneficiaries to utilise the farming inputs prudently because it is their last year of being on the FSP programme.
Meanwhile, Vincent Njobvu, a beneficiary, thanked the government for the opportunity to be on the programme for the past three years.
Mr Njobvu has meanwhile appealed to the government to consider drought resistant crops such as sorghum and cowpeas for Luangwa district that has a poor rainfall pattern.
Am in luangwa but i just found this on the news but kwena kuwaya waya fye