ZAMBIA: EARLY INPUT DELIVERY OF FERTILIZER GIVES RESULTS

Disappear, So
Do Tradition...
THE delivery of 25,000 tonnes of
top dressing fertiliser into
Zambia from Saudi-Arabia via the
port Dar-es-Salaam is a welcome
move considering there has
always been an outcry from
farmers on late delivery of inputs.
The consignment, which is
intended to benefit 900, 000
small-scale farmers under the
Farmer Input Support Progamme
will be transported into the
country via the Tanzania Zambia
Railways (TAZARA) freight service.
Coming hard on the heels of
another year when farmers,
mostly in the remotest areas of
the country, complained of late
delivery of inputs, the delivery of
urea before the onset of rain is
commendable.
In fact, the late delivery of inputs
has been roundly linked to poor
agricultural yields even in
seasons when little rainfall in the
dawn of the el nino weather
patterns should be more to
blame.
The advantage of early
distribution of inputs is that
when the exercise is kicked off
before the onset of rains, it not
only allows the farmers to plan
better but also makes
distribution a lot easier
considering most roads in the
countryside become impassable
in the rainy season.
We would also like to caution
farmers who tend to sell off the
fertiliser they receive under a
well-meaning programme like
FISP. Selling the commodity on
the 'black' market is detrimental
to both the respective farmers
and the nation at large.
FISP is a programme tailored to
benefit small-scale farmers who
otherwise would face various
challenges in getting inputs.
Government uses FISP to
enhance national food security
as well as at household level.
That is why when the Patriotic
Front (PF) Government was
elected into office in 2011, it
promised to diversify the
Zambian economy from complete
dependence on minerals to an
agrarian based one and such
strides as early delivery of inputs
go some way in the fulfillment of
the people's wish.
While it can be argued that it
would be difficult for an
economy to prosper with the
rain-based agricultural methods
that most local small-scale
farmers practice, diversification,
on the other hand, is key to the
development of any economy.
Even China, which is emerging as
arguably the world's biggest
economy to almost overtaking
the United States cut its
economic teeth from the
agricultural sector mainly with
rice which the Far East country is
still the world's largest producer