Ministers in fire fighting over messy Affordable Farm input scheme

Three powerful cabinet ministers are in fire fighting over anger from ordinary people because of the messy cheap farm input program.

Minister of Agriculture, Lobin Lowe : Government is ready to terminate the contracts of the suppliers that are not doing their work accordingly
Minister of Information, Gospel Kazako: all the problems which were being encountered due to communication and networking have been sorted out

Subsistence farmers, mostly women, are forced to sleep over outside shops to access the affordable farm input.

Agriculture minister Lobin Lowe, Information minister Gospel Kazako and National Unity and Civic Education minister Timothy Mtambo held a news conference to explain how the government is dealing with the matter after president Lazarus Chakwera said on Wednesday that his whole village of Malembo in Lilongwe has been missed out of the list of beneficiaries.

Kazako said there will be significant progress since all the problems which were being encountered due to communication and networking have been sorted out.

“For instance, the internet protocol address which was bringing communication problems among suppliers   has been sorted out as well as  the software that create the interface with the hosts, suppliers as well as companies have  required gadgets that are used in AIP,” Kazako said.

Agriculture minister Lobin Lowe said his office has deployed staff to selling points for commodities under the Affordable Input Program (AIP) and check the quantity and quality of the fertilizer amidst information that some suppliers are selling underweight bags of fertilizer.

This comes amid varied concerns over how the program is being administered.

He said his ministry also has information that some suppliers are buying IDs from farmers to buy the fertilizer themselves.

Lowe said other suppliers are also shunning rural areas defying some clauses in their agreement adding that “any supplier caught in this malpractice will have their contracts terminated”.

He said the ministry in conjunction with the Civic Education and information ministries have developed a hotline for farmers to report any fraud or challenges they are facing, the hotline is 3013.

So far, Lowe said a total of 251, 020 farmers representing 7% of the targeted farmers had managed to buy the fertilizer while 226, 887 farmers representing 6% of the targeted farmers had purchased the seeds.

“Currently the AIP programme is on 7% amidst the challenges that the ministry was facing.  We are hopeful that before the rainy season starts the resources will have reached thousands of areas since they are many hands working,” Lowe said.

He said highest sales were made in Zomba followed by Phalombe and Blantyre.

Minister of Civic Education and National Unity, Timothy Mtambo, said his ministry is working tirelessly in issuing awareness campaign so that people in villages should report to right authorities whenever they have come across AIP malpractice.

“Through the awareness campaigns we have conducted in different areas, we will be able to trace down the areas where such misconducts are happening as the beneficiary will be linking with us directly through the free line of 3013 which has been given,” Mtambo said.

The AIP is expected to benefit 4.2 million less privileged people which include the elderly, those living with disabilities orphans and many more.

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Phyot Olera Kun Yini
3 years ago

Timothy mtumbo akutaniko ku press briefing ya AIP mess? Please tell him ngati wasowa chochita apite akakonze ma traffic lights (maroboti) anaphwanya mu Lilongwe aja. Please tell timothy mtumbo kuti apite akakonze glass house yomwe anaphwanya ku Mnchesi kuLilongwe ija. Please tell timothy mtumbo kuti police units and Government Offices omwe anawotcha aja are still in ruins. Tell timothy mtumbo to go and fix the damage he caused in this country rather than letting him to sit phwiiiiii in a meeting that concerns the agriculture mess.

PHRIWAPHIRI
3 years ago

TIMAONA NGATI AKULAMULILA NDIANGELO KUTI ZITHU SIZINKHALA NGATI NTHAWI YA DPP HEHEHEDEDEEEEEEEEEE IWO ANKATI DPP IKUKANIKA NANGA LERO BWAJI? ZBS KULI ZIIIIIIII A GEORGE STOOGE KASAKULA IZI SANGAKAMBE NDI AMVULA KOMA A MVULAAAAAAAA SHAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Horsepower
Horsepower
3 years ago

universal mwakanika. iyinso yalakwa. 7% when the rains have started

Phyot Olera Kun Yini
3 years ago

Chakwera kuchulutsa zokamba koma delivery ndi zero. The only thing he is able to do is to fire Lomwe People from top positions regardless of how they got there. achewa anthu odzikonda. And where are the 1million jobs? Where is the K15000 stipend for our grannies?

Shameful Nonse alliance.

Kambewa ngozo
3 years ago

Foseki About the Allowance ya Azigogo you just wake and start paying. Ukufuna kuti Uziba chani. What will happen is proper registration verification in each area district. To avoid ghost granny’s and some one stealing the money. The system how the amount will be paid to avoid katangale. Also if someone civil servant is found to have stolen then he must go to prison for 10 years with hard labour. So in short Mapuya was Dpp the government in in the process of sorting this issue. We all know that you are being paid to write shity stuff about the… Read more »

Katema
Katema
3 years ago
Reply to  Kambewa ngozo

Be logical where is the registration?Where is the budget? Don’t support blindly..

Dennis
Dennis
3 years ago

Please you ministers hear our concerns, we are saying many poor people and elderly who depends on farming has not benefited, we have seen in some households both parents benefiting separately and in some cases many people who have benefited have sold their IDs not to suppliers but to vendors. I have in mind some elderly people at who were expecting to benefit but they have not though they are registered farmers.
Make it universal

Phaloni
Phaloni
3 years ago

Kupupuluma sikwabwino. You basically won in July and there was no time to roll out this program. You should have used the DPP budget for this year and brought ur budget next year.

Kambewa ngozo
3 years ago
Reply to  Phaloni

Foseki
How much have you been paid to write shity stuff about the current government

Sizzler
Sizzler
3 years ago
Reply to  Kambewa ngozo

For them to perform better they need to be told the truth and only the truth.if you keep on being hand clappers then they too will end up being like all past goverments of Malawi…

444444No
444444No
3 years ago

It is very pathetic to be queuing bcoz the so called stupid network, we don’t need network ro get cheap fertilizer, did you use network to communicate to us that we are going to get a bag at 4000kwacha? You spoke using your mouth then the same applies, just shout all Malawians go get cheap fertilizer

Masozi
Masozi
3 years ago

O’lowe ayi ndithu, empty head. Where is chidanti malunga?

Citizen
Citizen
3 years ago

It’s a shame that some deserving households have not benefitted while some have both the wife and husband benefiting as separate households. I thought you said it would be by household? Who then messed up things and ended up getting more than one National ID numbers from one household? The more things change, the more they remain the same. You mean you haven’t heard anything to this effect? This is disappointing.

Herb
Herb
3 years ago

chonsecho anthu ena mmadera kwawo mvula yodzalira inagwa kale

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