By MAIMBO MWEEMBA
The Ministry of Agriculture in Luanshya District is set to begin sensitising farmers on the minor adjustments to the Farmer Input Support Program (FISP) ahead of the 2022/2023 farming season.
Luanshya District Commissioner, Onesimus 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 said that FISP will now include the use of biometrics for beneficiary farmers in the collection of farming inputs.
“Following the government’s recent cleanup 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,” he said.
Mr. Ng’onomo saidthat 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.
FISP beneficiary farmers will be expected to make a deposit of K400 and receive a 10 Kg bag of maize seeds, 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.
