MOST of the new suppliers contracted by the Government to supply inputs for the 2023/2024 farming have failed to supply inputs on time to the Agro dealers because farmers are rejecting new input brands on the market and opt for known brands, Agro Dealers Association of Zambia (ABAZ) president Mary Tembo has said.
Earlier this year, the Government launched the 2023 countrywide distribution of certified seed under the Compressive Agriculture input Support Program for the 2023 /2014 farming season.
But speaking to The Scoop Ms. Tembo despite the exercises starting on time, most farmers were skeptical of the new brands on the market from the newly contracted suppliers, a development she said created unnecessary high demand for the known brands on the market in many districts and led to chaos in the process.
She explained that agro dealers are faced with challenges of marketing new seed brands delivered by the new seed suppliers as most farmers refused to be given unknown brands in fear of having poor crop yield.
She said that this had created chaos and high demand as farmers only accepted prominent input brands delivered by the old suppliers.
“Most new suppliers contracted to supply the inputs have failed to give agro-dealers the inputs despite them signing the contracts. Only prominent suppliers have managed to supply the agro dealers with inputs and these are very few. So we are stuck with the same old suppliers and it is a cumbersome process especially now that the agro dealer needs to have their own gadgets.
“The suppliers now request that the agro dealer’s own gadgets like a tablet or phones for each supplier the agro dealer is dealing with which is a risk to handle as an agro dealer because many centres are being handled. The farmers are also refusing certain seeds in fear that they might not grow and now prominent seeds have run out in almost all districts,” Ms. Tembo said.
She noted the need for farmers to be well engaged on the new seed brands and assuring them that they would also grow normally like the known brands to avoid putting agro dealers in awkward positions of marketing new seed brands.
She however expressed hope that the input distribution exercise would be finalized by January 2024.
However, Minister of Agriculture Mtolo Phiri recently reaffirmed the Government’s commitment to ensuring that the distribution of inputs was done in the most favorable manner.