By Matṧeliso Phulane
The senior agricultural information officer from the ministry of agriculture and food security, Lereko Masopha, believes that allocation of farming inputs to local farmers will go a long way towards improving agricultural production.
He said farmers are already receiving some inputs from the government as promised by the minister of agriculture and food security Thabo Mofosi.
During a media briefing held last month, Mofosi said all farming inputs such as seeds and fertilizers would be available in the country paving way for farmers to plough their fields in time.
He said farmers were behind schedule for this year’s summer cropping as a result, the ministry has already purchased inputs such as seeds, fertilizers and herbicides and were to be imported into the country in within 10 days.
In an interview with theReporter this week, Masopha said the seeds inputs were being imported into the country from last week, adding that the government was bent on arranging logistics such as transport for fertilisers and other agricultural inputs.
Masopha said that this year’s inputs “accessibility is going to be more convenient unlike in the past years considering the complaints from farmers as some did not receive them.”
“The ministry always played its part to allocate inputs to the farmers. But the only problem we have noticed was that the allocation criteria was not right starting as Members of Parliament were given priority in the supply of the inputs.
“As a result, they would buy for themselves with more inputs in order to give their close friends and their next of kin,” Masopha said.
He said in response to that, the ministry decided to choose an independent company on their behalf to procure inputs and even to sell them. What farmers need to do is to pay fro the supplies, he added.
Masopha also mentioned that means of payment have also improved, unlike before whereby farmers would travel from their districts to Maseru to pay for the inputs before they would collect them.
He said farmers can now get their inputs from their departments of agriculture in their districts, thus reducing travelling costs.
He added that there are some criteria for allocating the fertilisers and seeds “because some farmers fail to plough their fields.”
He continued: “There is a letter written by the chief to prove the hectares of the field that a farmer has and there is also a master list in every district showing the information about places which are being used for crop farming in the country.
“A farmer is therefore expected to bring along those two things from the ministry of agriculture or resource centre when they pay for their inputs, as a result they will buy depending on the size of their crop fields,” Masopha said
He also said that researches have been done before deciding on the type of fertilizers used depending on the quality of the soil. The seeds are also available in abundance for various crops including “the hybrid seeds because they are easier and faster to grow.”
Moreover, Masopha said the ministry has noticed that there are several fields which are no longer used for agricultural purposes and remain untilled as some farmers do not have sufficient financing.
He therefore highlighted that, the ministry’s responsibility on that is to advice farmers to engage into block farming. He urged for private sector investments in agriculture so as to improve the livelihoods of the citizens.
Private sector farming can be done in the form of investing money into agriculture so as to share production after harvesting.
Commenting on the matter, the chairperson of Leribe District Farmers Association and the vice president of Lesotho National Farmers Union (LeNAFU), Khuboni Chakela said in Leribe the agricultural inputs have not yet been supplied. However, they are still expecting them as the minister promised farmers.
Chakela affirmed that all these years, the distribution has been unsatisfactory because the strategic plans done by the minister of agriculture did not always involve the farmers.
He said the result of the inputs not reaching all the farmers was a result of some farmers allocating bulk of inputs to themselves and their next of kin, a practice that leaves some farmers in desperate.
“The main reason such things happen is that the ministry always plan as to how should allocation of inputs go without involving farmers, that is what in most cases causes the delay leading to farmers fighting over them when they arrive,” Chakela said
To address such issue, he said this year LeNAFU wrote the letter which they gave to the new government during the meeting with farmers. The letter, he added, contained farmers’ vision and expectations
Chakela added that this year they are lucky to have the new minister of agriculture and food security because he was also involved during the foundation of that strategic plan as he is one of the board members of LeNAFU.
As a result, he said that gives them hope that the strategic plan should be addressed before cabinet by farmers so that when it is implemented it contains farmers’ voices.
“The government pleaded with us and promised to look at that strategic plan thoroughly so that it can be incorporated into the budget during the financial year 2023/2024.
“As a result, we really hope to see a massive change during the coming winter cropping as well as summer cropping next year. We are therefore happy that our grievances are finally answered,” he said.
Chakela urged that the agricultural inputs should be easily accessible in all districts where farmers can get them. The government should ensure that security forces secure the inputs because the ministry sometimes complain that they are being stolen, he advised.
According to the mid-term budget review, “an initiative to improve crop production and productivity, the subsidy increased from 60 percent to 70 percent for seeds and pesticides and 80 percent for fertilizers to farmers.
“The inputs procured this far includes Maize seeds and fertilizers which were distributed to approximately to 6000 farmers. The total amount spend on these agricultural inputs is M102 million.
“Tsikoane Fresh Produce Market Centre has eventually been completed and subleased to Private sector.”
To achieve increased investment in agriculture and sustainable food and nutrition security, M23 million has been awarded to 136 farmers and 28 improved agricultural technologies made available to 724 farmers.
