The Zambia National Farmers Union (ZNFU) says government frustrated farmers during the 2012/2013 farming season due to the late distribution of farming inputs and should not repeat the mistake.
ZNFU president Jervis Zimba said the government should make the Farmer Input Support Programme (FISP) more efficient and effective by exploring innovations and ideas that are aimed at improving its performance.
“There is a proposal on the table about piloting usage of electronic vouchers… Let us try it. If it is feasible, if it fails, we shall fail together with you, but we would have demonstrated that we are committed to improving the situation,” Zimba said.
He said the union was happy that the distribution of basal fertilizer would be handled by the Nitrogen Chemicals of Zambia (NCZ) as this would revitalise its operations and bring about job creation.
Zimba called on the government to deal with the perennial problems of crop marketing.
He said measures must be put in place to allow the private sector to play their role in commodity marketing.
“Private sector must be allowed to export our agricultural produce provided this does not impede on our domestic requirements,” said Zimba.
Agriculture minister Bob Sichinga apologized for the failure.
“I want to once again say we are very sorry for messing up the handling of inputs last season. Because of that, already we have put in place the requirements for this year. By the end of this month, the tender for the supply of imported fertilizers would have been completed.
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