Q FM Africa's Modern Radio
Agriculture Minister Dora Siliya says the list of eligible smallholder farmers that will make up the one million targeted beneficiaries under the Farmer Input Support Programme (FISP) will be finalized this week.
Ms Siliya says government has saved about K1 billion after cleaning the e-voucher system under the Farmer Input Support Programme (FISP) by putting only eligible farmers.
Speaking during a media breakfast meeting in Lusaka, Ms Siliya states that after rolling out the programme, the government will support farmers in 113 districts across the country from the initial 39 districts when the program was launched.
She has also disclosed that weather index insurance has been introduced under the FISP for all the beneficiaries.
Ms Siliya has further stated that households that require support, but are not eligible under FISP will be put on either the Food Security Pack (FSP) or Social Cash Transfer.
Speaking at the same meeting, Smart Zambia Assistant Director Dr. David Phiri says a total of 998, 674 farmers have been registered for the FISP programme and 1, 309 agro-dealers have been engaged for this undertaking.
And National Union for Small-scale Farmers of Zambia (NUSFAZ) Director General Dr. Frank Kayula has appealed to the government to give full attention to the agriculture sector in order to reduce the high poverty levels in the country.