Zambia: Some farmers in Kalomo District of Southern Province are worried about the delays in the actualisation of the SAFF loans scheme. The farmers had applied under the Sustainable Agriculture Financing Facility (SAFF) agro-inputs credit window.
The farmers of the district opted for anonymity while voicing their concerns regarding the delays. The delay in disbursing the codes for the applicants to redeem their inputs has cost them time to effectively do their agriculture plans.
“This is mid-January, this money from SAFF Loans was meant to assist the farmers who did not benefit from the Farmers Input Support Programme (FISP) to get inputs, surely do you expect us to do tangible agricultural purposes this time even if the money comes in today,” questioned one farmer.
Meanwhile, Kalomo Acting District Agricultural Coordinator Ng’andu Simuulu says his department has done its part. He added that it is the responsibility of the designated financial institutions to finish the process.
However, Simuulu adds that there is hope as his office held a meeting with the three financial institutions engaged in the programme. During the meeting, they talked about how to proceed forward on the issue.
He disclosed that the financial institutions assured that by the end of this week and next week, applicants may start receiving messages to redeem their agro inputs with the selected agro-dealers.
The over 500 farmer applicants under the credit window facility in Kalomo have been directed to deal with Natsave, Indo- Zambia and Absa.
In this context, it is important to note that some of the applicants have been reported to have received messages to redeem with selected agro-dealers to get their input.
The Sustainable Agriculture Financing Facility agro inputs loan scheme introduced by the government is meant to assist farmers and public service workers who are neither beneficiaries under the subsidised Farmer Input Support Programme (FISP) nor the Community Development Department’s Food Security Pack programme (FSP) to engage in farming activities.
31,000 farmers are supported in Kalomo under FISP.