By Staff Writer
Chipangali Town Council Chairperson Maxson Nkhoma has urged government to provide more information to farmers on changes made to Farmer Input Support Program (FISP).
Mr Nkhoma said the decision by Government to make improvements to the FISP is a step in the right direction which is the best interest of the farmers.
He said the current distribution process has been abused and disadvantages real farmers who are supposed to benefit from the program.
He said the just ended 2021/2022 farming season revealed a lot of irregularities and shortcomings in the distribution.
“In making changes to the farmer input support program, government must provide sufficient information to the farmers on the new system to be used in the 2022/2023 farming season.
“My office has received a number of complaints from farmers most of which point to the fact of lacking sufficient information on how the government intends to improve the distribution process of farming inputs,” he said.
Mr Nkhoma said government should also be clear whether it will continue using cooperatives as a medium of farmer identification and how many bags farmers will receive in the new program.
He said Government should explain what will happen to those farmers who paid their money to the Government in the 2021/2022 farming season but have not been given the farming inputs
