By Linda Kwanjana
Minister of Agriculture Sam Kawale says his Ministry has put in place all the logistical arrangement to ensure that all the beneficiaries of the Affordable Imput Programme (AIP) have received the fertilizer by December.
Kawale was speaking on Wednesday during a briefing held at Smallholders Farmers Fertiliser Revolving Fund of Malawi (SFFRFM) offices in Lilongwe.
The Minister said he felt duty bound to inform Malawians that of the slight changes to the deadline set by President Lazarus McCarthy Chakweran for the completion of the AIP.
He indicated that the arrangement has been slightly affected by some external forces which are beyond the Ministry’s control such as the shortage of forex at the Reserve Bank and the recent devaluation that have impacted the prices of commodites and other logistics in the implementation of the programme.
Kunkuyu said his Ministry is working closely with the Ministry of Finance to source funds to ensure that the remaining areas that have not received the fertiliser gets the commodity in time.
He also revealed that government has received a donation of 104,000 bags of fertilizer which is in the country for distribution. He indicated that a total of 29,929 metric tonnes of fertilizer has already started being distributed to retailers today.
President Lazarus Chakwera gave the 40 days deadline during the launch of this year’s AIP program.
