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—–Kaoma District Commissioner, Joster Manjolo, has urged farmers in Kalumwange Resettlement Scheme, about 80 km away from Kaoma Township, to support the Patriotic Front (PF) government’s stance on the removal of subsidies on maize and fuel.
Addressing a public meeting at Lunyati Basic School, Mr Manjolo said the money realized from subsidy removal will be prudently used to improve sectors such as agriculture, education, health and roads among others so that people in rural areas enjoy the government plans.
He said the road network in rural areas was extremely bad for the majority poor people and that is why government removed the subsidies on maize and fuel, adding that the rich were the only ones enjoying at the expense of the poor people.
The DC said the PF government wants to continue working together with the people in rural areas in order to make lasting changes on the lives of the needy and critically hunger-stricken people in remote communities of Kaoma and the entire Western Province.
Mr Manjolo explained that government will continue subsidizing small scale farmers under the Farmer Input Support Programme (FISP) during the 2013/14 farming season.
“Commercial farmers will be buying a 50 kg bag of fertilizer at KR250 and a 10kg bag of maize seed at KR100 while small scale farmers will be buying the same at KR100 per 50kg bag and a free 10kg bag of maize seed,” he said.
He added that government will be paying an additional amount of KR150 per small scale farmer under the FISP in the country.
Mr Manjolo said government has put in stringent measures to ensure that it will cut on corruption that used to take place in the former MMD government in the distribution of farming inputs in Kaoma district as the Nitrogen Chemicals of Zambia (NCZ) will open up a shop in Kaoma where small scale farmers from different cooperative societies in the district will be buying farming inputs at a subsidized rate.
He said government will soon embark on revamping the poor road network so that they become passable during the distribution exercise of fertilizer.
And Mr Manjolo has appealed to the people in the Kalumwange farming block to go and exchange their old currencies as the old notes cease to be legal tender on June 30, this year.
Mr Manjolo has since cautioned the people in Kaoma, Nkeyema and Luampa districts to be wary of unscrupulous money dealers who might intend to swindle them of their hard-earned money, saying all the monies should be exchanged at designated commercial banks and the Bank of Zambia.
And speaking at the same public meeting, a retiree, Wamulume Mubita, requested the office of the District Commissioner to expedite the process of offer letters to all the people at the resettlement scheme by the government.
Mr Mubita said all the settlers at the scheme just owned farm blocks without legal offers from the Ministry of Lands.
