Saturday, August 09, 2008

Govt bars NGOs from FSP

Govt bars NGOs from FSP
By George Zulu in Monze
Friday August 08, 2008 [04:00]

THE Ministry of Agriculture in Monze says it will not allow NGOs to participate in the distribution of government sponsored Fertiliser Support Programme (FSP) in this year’s farming season. In an interview, district agri-business and marketing officer Zandonda Tembo said that the decision to ban NGO’s from participating in the programme was arrived at, during a meeting to evaluate the FSP programme.

He said that NGO’s should instead supplement government’s effort by sourcing for more inputs from donors rather than depending on what the central government had budgeted for.

Tembo also advised small-scale farmers to prepare adequately because they would pay more than what they paid in the last farming season due to the increased fertiliser prices the country was experiencing.

He said only vulnerable but viable small-scale farmers would benefit in this year’s programme.

Last year, Monze received 34,200 x 50 kg bags of Urea and the same quantity of Basal dressing.

Meanwhile, the department of veterinary says it has drawn up a programme to ensure that there is no further foot and mouth disease outbreaks in the province.

Monze district veterinary officer Phanwel Nyimba said that the department had identified areas affected with outbreaks of foot and mouth disease and the department would ensure that a vigorous vaccination campaign was put in place.

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1 Comments:

At 10:05 AM , Blogger MrK said...

The ministry of agriculture has a department in Monze as well as Lusaka? No wonder that the government takes up this much money. Agricultural functions should be deferred to the district level, in my opinion, without being part of a central government ministry.

 

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