Kanchibiya lawmaker decries delay, low supply of fertiliser to constituency

Government should expedite distribution of urea fertiliser for farmers in Kanchibiya Constituency to ensure they apply the commodity on time.

Delivery of fertiliser in Kanchibiya District is currently under 40 percent as at January 13, 2023, according to area Member of Parliament Sunday Chanda.

“Earlier today I visited our Kanchibiya Constituency, farmers have spent over two weeks waiting to receive urea fertilizer.

“Instead of spending time attending to the crop in their respective areas, they are now forced to spend nights under very difficult conditions as they wait for fertiliser,” Chanda said in a statement issued in Lusaka on Saturday.

He regretted that these farmers had run out of money for upkeep due to prolonged waiting, a situation Chanda said was unacceptable and needed to come to an end.

Chanda therefore demanded that under the 2023 Farmers Input Support Programme (FISP) rollout, government should engage more than one supplier for D-Compound and Urea, respectively.

He also demanded that farming inputs under 2023 for the people of Kanchibiya District must be distributed from Kanchibiya and not Mpika.

“We are a district focused on exploiting our comparative advantage in agriculture. This is a pending disaster to the agricultural sector and will result in hunger at household level!

“On behalf of the hardworking farmers of Kanchibiya, I am calling on Government to treat immediate delivery of urea fertilizer to farmers in Kanchibiya as a matter of urgency. It is a race against time,” Chanda said.