Kalomo District Commissioner, Joshua Sikaduli has warned of stern action against anyone found in corrupt practices of acquiring inputs in the Farmer Input Support Programme (FISP).
Mr Sikaduli sounded the warning yesterday after some farmers complained to over alleged corrupt practices by some beneficiaries who pay money to agents to collect the inputs when it was not their slot to do so.
“ the problem here is that these officers are too slow and they concentrate to deal with papers which are collected by agents who are not in the queue who we suspect pay them something, leaving us who are actually supposed to be our day to redeem our authority to collect (ATC) papers,” charged Fiske Muleya one of the farmers.
However, Mr Sikaduli who was flanked by Dundumwezi Member of Parliament, Edgar Sing’ombe assured the farmers that no one would be deprived an opportunity to collect their inputs on their allotted days of redeeming and urged them to report such corrupt vices to his office.
And District Agriculture Committee Chairperson, Alexcious Sindumda who oversees the 36 Camp Agriculture Committees (CACs) in Kalomo also confirmed having received reports of corrupt practices in the manner the tagging system was done and also on the collecting of inputs at some Alfa commodities depots.
Out of the 31,000 farmers under FISP in the 2022/2023 farming season, 29,405 have redeemed their papers, representing 98.7%.
And in another development, some farmers have called on government to decentralize the distribution of agro inputs in various zones as opposed to bringing the commodity to the Central Business Town, claiming the system is too expensive for the farmers.
Early, this week President Hakainde Hichilema during his private visit to Kalomo assured the farming community that the distribution of agro inputs would be hastened in the coming season.