Scores of farmers, who have paid for the full packs under the Fertilizer Support Programme (FSP) in Choma district, have strongly condemned the decision by Omnia Zambia Company to close their sheds and stop distributing fertiliser.
Speaking on behalf of other farmers, Ellison Nyowana, said the move by Omnia to stop distributing fertiliser will negatively affect the harvest in he next season.
Mr. Nyowana lamented that Omnia Company, as a contracted warehouse manager for the FSP, should have considered issuing fertilizer and seed to farmers who fully paid for the inputs.
He told the National Agricultural Information Services (NAIS) in Choma yesterday that farmers should be given the inputs immediately because they are running out of time.
Meanwhile some sources told the National Agricultural Information Services that Omnia head office in Lusaka directed its officer under Omnia in Choma to stop distributing fertiliser and lock up the sheds.
The sources alleged that Omnia has locked the sheds and suspended the distribution of inputs to cooperatives because government has not paid the company for the services it offered.
Several farmers talked to expressed disappointment and said the move will affect the food security in the country if it was not addressed urgently.
Meanwhile, Choma District Commissioner, Laiven Apuleni, called on farmers in the district not to despair as the matter of continuing to distribute farming inputs under FSP was receiving urgent attention.
Mr. Apuleni noted that the provincial administration under the Permanent Secretary’s office was aware of the matter and has since made frantic efforts to have the inputs distributed as early as possible.
Mr. Apuleni was optimistic that in the next three days, the sheds would be reopened to continue with the input distribution exercise.
Mr. Apuleni stated that government could not afford to delay the programme any further because farmers were behind schedule in terms of planting.
”We can not afford to delay any further as farmers are already behind in the planting season. I want to assure you that by weekend we will go ahead with the programme of input distribution as the matter is receiving urgent attention in Lusaka,” he explained.
wanu!!!
Yaba…OK nambala two
he he you can have the next one Chale
sony ericson how do you manage? i have tried but still fail to beat you
Niyabwanji iyi kansi? Whats going to happen to our poor farmers? Bane, start stocking up because if you have never known hunger, you will know it this season, starting from January……Kaya ni number chani iyi.
#4 You have to train and practise everyday, it’s not easy to be “Nambala Wanu”. You must be in college, Sony has a Masters Degree and I hold a PhD.
This is too much! bushe were is the agriculture minister?? sleeping as well??? [-(
FSP is a failure and it only works weeks before elections and immediately after office bearers are sworn in, the FSP becomes a dream. Thats why major elections are tailored to occur during the farming season so that the powers that be are seen to be working. I tell you reducing the price of fert to 50pin while we very much know that we dont for example manufacture UREA is a joke. RB must be made answerable for this blunder in zed’s economy and no wonder the major beneficiaries of this fertilizer are nothing but MMD cadres in the guise of small scale farmers
# 4 and 6 :((
ati ba govt.!!!!RB used all the money for election campains and cant pay omnia. This fertiliser support programmme was used as campaign item and here it is the can’t deliver…shame on you RB **==[-x
Something just does’nt smell right here. I think we are owed a very huge explanation on just what the hell is going on. Apuleni says farmers should not despair? Ah, does this man know what he’s talking about? Can someone please help me? 😕
Bantu baza lema ku tisiya chifuka chanjala.RB are you happy now?
Lets encourage conservation farming and crop rotation. Fertilizers are not good for our soils..There’s need for agriculture education.
That other day it was Mutale and his lending institution now it’s this bla bla bla. A we ine nalema.
This is a wake up call. More of such things will occur for as long as we leave the provision of such vital services in the hands of foreigners. They are not affected in away as you and I who are emotionally attached to those peasant farmers (our relatives and source of bupi, busu, unga )are. 8-x
#I3 Ba Pastor, Yaba. Mukamba va education mange? I dare you to go to the rural farmer and say those exact words. Simuzakabwezapo futi.
#13 That is true, what happened to organic farming and other methods od eco friendly farming?
I totally believe that we need some generational change in leadership and this new generation should be of good quality so that Zambia can move forward. o:-)
Good points #13 and #17, people need to learn self-reliance instead of depending on fertiliser fertiliser all the time. Zambia has vast unused agicultural land
The Buck Stops at MMD and no amount explanations from Duiker, Tentemashiba and rest will solve this problem.
:-~o)=p~8->(:|[-(|-)
Akulu mpuno dont just sleep na ka 28 year old the presidency requires energetic & vibrant leadership
We are now a failed state…
Before Independence each region had its own staple crop. But Unip introduced fertilizer supported maize all over even in Luapula where maize was just a seasonal snack. This people has caused problems in Nothern Zambia where we lived comfortably on millet and cassava
Left in the cold? It never gets cold i Zed does it?
Ah well, ask them to wear cardigans!
Ho Ho Ho!
Father Xmas
Whats up? Is it English or what? Let them ask RB to do what he knows best…..He is the one who promised them…….ha ha ha Wina a Zalila. Maliro nikurilana…….they voted and they share the blame……Next time champ champ bafotini imwe…
Fertiliser Sapasa Ponse.THats the big message. Its for a few at the right time. Ntawi ikasila forget. Farmers are supposed to be finalising plating now. Not lining up for fertiliser. FSP is a fake programme economically. If farmers depend on FSP they will fail because that is a political rogramme. Meant to say thank you bamambala potifaka muma office. Ma farmer nao, how do you expect Omnia to give free fertilisers like you voted for them. THose you voted for should pay first, then Omnia which pays for the commdity to come to Zambia will distribute the payment for your vote even a negative one. :d/
Fertiliser support programme is teaser programme What development has taken place because of the circus of distributing ferts? Look at the vots of the past three elections, the rural area gave power to our Village Headmen at state house. But once they are in state house, being what they are-village head men- they forget to develop the very core source of their authority! Its a paradox. THey will spend five years proving thmselves worthy of state house and another six years trying to appease relatives and two years preparing to work with a vision. My calculation is right 13 years which does not fit in the constitution. What nest? It is the third term. Most african leaders are like except Mand:((
God is showing the rural what the urban refused. its a pitty but this is a lesson to them. education is bitter but the end result is wisdom and experience. when city dwellers say no a villager says yes city guys also say yes because u villagers rush to the cities. now city guyz take fertiliser kuminzi and charge them exhorbitantly. its your yes now so they can cry no.
#25 No tecingeleshi batata. Was being sarcastic. I bet you didn`t see that did you?
Ho Ho Ho!
LT are you MMD cadres for blocking my comments. SHAME ON YOU
Good points #27& 28. Villagers are paying the price for easily being cheated by RB during elections. K275.000 to K50.000. such reduction can only be applied by a shallow mind person but where the economy is concerned it was uncalled for and the result is what is happening now