Chikwawa district director of agriculture services Isaac Ali says at least 18 900 farmers in the district will benefit from this year’s Farmer Inputs Subsidy Programme (Fisp).
He was responding to questions from The Nation to establish how the exercise is progressing this year against the background of challenges in previous years about network failures, long queues and delays when transacting through banks and mobile money platforms.
In an interview on Wednesday, he said his office has not received any complaint from farmers since they started redeeming their fertiliser last week.
Said Ali: “This shows that the exercise is going on well without major challenges. We have put proper mechanisms in place to ensure that every registered farmer accesses the fertiliser without problems.
“The district has intensified awareness campaigns to ensure farmers contribute their K20 000 in groups and buy the fertiliser through FDH Bank without delays.”
Group village head Namila from Traditional Authority (T/A) Mlilima said he was happy that many people in his area registered through farmer clubs which are buying fertiliser through FDH Bank.
He said the group approach will not only ease payment, but also help farmers to encourage each other in various farming activities, thereby improve their livelihoods and ensure food security at household level.
Farmers Elizabeth Jeyi from Namila Village and Gladys James from Jeleza Village, T/A Kasisi, said the fertiliser came at the right time when they are waiting for the rains.
“We have been encouraged to plant early maturing and drought tolerant varieties following the seasonal forecast of possible dry spells,” said Jeyi.
Nationally, at least 1 221 862 farmers are expected to benefit from the programme by sharing 50-kilogramme bags of Urea and NPK between two people upon contributing K20 000 each in farmer groups.
The Smallholder Farmers Fertiliser Revolving Fund of Malawi is selling the fertiliser.
