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Monze Town farmers praise govt for its support Home / Monze Town farmers praise govt for its support
Monze Town farmers praise govt for its support
Farmers in Namuseba area in Monze Town have praised government for supporting them with inputs under the Food Security Pack programme that has been rolled out since.
One farmers visited by a team from the Department of Community Development today, Hilary Habunji said the move by government has tremendously helped to reduce poverty and hunger among the beneficiaries of the programme.
He said previously vulnerable but viable farmers used to find it difficult to buy inputs but that the implementation of the government funded programme in the area has had a positive impact on their lives as they are now food secure.
Mr Habunji urged government to sustain the programme, which he noted has proved record of changing people lives through food security and poverty reduction.
“We want to thank government from deep our hearts for giving us inputs under FSP which has made it possible for us to be food secure and enable us to sale some of this food to send our children to school .
“We just want to call on government and encourage it (government) to sustain this programme is it has a proven record of changing our lives through food security and poverty reduction,” said Mr Habunji.
Another beneficiary farmer Conceptar Hamulyata says the programme has helped her to compete favourably with other farmers in terms of food production and able to raise her standard of living.
She observed that all beneficiaries in the area planted the various seeds they received from the FSP programme but was quick to express fear that the dry spell that has persisted for three weeks now might negatively affect crop yields.
460 households have benefited under the FSP programme in eight FSP catchment areas of the District.
Community Development Officer Felistus Mubukwanu who disclosed this at the same function, stated that poverty levels among beneficiaries have reduced by about 35 per cent due to the efficacy of the programme in food security and poverty reduction.
“This programme is yielding positive impact of reducing poverty here in Monze by at least 35 per cent among the beneficiaries and we are optimistic that as government continue to increase number of beneficiaries we are likely to see more and more vulnerable households being food secure and coming out of poverty,” said Ms Mubukwanu.
The District received 1,840 by 50 kilograms of both top and basal fertiliser and various seeds for the 2018/2019 farming season which have since been distributed to the 460 beneficiaries in eight(8) FSP catchment areas of Nteme, Kaumba, Hakwamba, Nabukuyu, Ufwenuka, Machinga, Keemba, and Holy Family.
The FSP is a government funded scheme established in 2000 and operated by Project Against Malnutrition (PAM) through the Ministry of Community Development to provide basic agricultural inputs, technology transfer, and training to vulnerable small-scale farmers across the country.