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Chisamba District surpasses its procurement target for the 2013/2014 marketing seasons
Chisamba , September 18th, 2014, ZANIS —- Chisamba District has surpassed its set maize procurement target for the 2013/2014 marketing seasons by over 50 percent .
Chisamba District Commissioner Ferdinand Chipindi says that the district had targeted to procure 156, 000 by 50 kg bags of maize initially.
But as of 17/09/2014 the district had procured a total of 386, 576 by 50 kg bags of maize from small holder farmers in the district and the process is on-going, he said.
ZANIS reports that the DC said revealed this in an interview at his office in Chisamba district, today.
Mr. Chipindi said the 2013/2014 marketing season was a success and attributed it to the government’s deliberate programmes aimed at empowering small holder farmers in the district while ensuring food security for the nation.
“The district could have done more but for a poor road network which was hampering transporters from hauling maize from certain remote parts of the district like Kanakantapa on time,” Mr Chipindi explained.
And Chisamba District Agricultural Coordinator Julius Malipa has disclosed that the payments to small holder farmers in the district was on-going and the majority of the farmers had been paid.
“Payments for all the farmers who supplied maize to Food Reserve Agency (FRA) is not an issue as all of them will receive their moneys on time,” said Mr. Malipa.
Mr. Malipa said the process of paying farmers who sold their maize to FRA was progressing smoothly and those farmers who have not received their dues should not worry but rather wait for their turn.
Meanwhile, And Mr. Chipindi appealed to the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock to increase both fertiliser and seed packs allocated to Chisamba District.
He said the call for more fertiliser and seed packs has arisen from the need to accommodate more than 50 cooperatives who were transferred from Chongwe District to Chisamba District recently.
Chisamba District is expecting 54, 720 by 50 kg bags of fertiliser, 1000 by 10 kg bags of groundnuts and 23,360 by 25 kg bags of maize in the 2014/2015 farming season, said Mr. Chipindi.
Mr. Chipindi said the extras being requested for were 300 by 10 kg bags of groundnuts, 3000 by 25kg bags of maize and enough bags of fertiliser meant to cater for the more than 50 cooperatives who were relocated to Chisamba District.
“Transferred farmers from Chongwe are frequenting my office almost every day trying to know their fate as regards to Farmer Input Support Programme (FISP) entitlements”, the DC said.
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