Nan Smith writes about her observations on the pitfalls and benefits of farming subsidies in the United Kingdom. On a recent short visit to the United Kingdom (UK) I had the good fortune to cast my eyes upon the agricultural landscape of parts of rural England through the windows of…
Command agriculture – a major, private-sector-backed subsidy programme implemented by the Government of Zimbabwe – has been hailed as a massive success, especially following the huge maize harvest reaped this year. President Mugabe recently described command agriculture as ‘beautiful’. The programme, led by the Vice President, Emerson Mnangagwa, with the ministry of agriculture…
The Zambia Institute of Policy Analysis and Research (ZIPAR) has hailed the reversal of the agricultural import ban. ZIPAR research fellow Francis Ziba said import restrictions had trade-distorting effects and created problems with administration and transparency. “This type of quick fix solution is quite problematic for Zambia. Therefore, government’s decision…
The Zambia National Farmers Union (ZNFU) is opposed to a proposal by millers calling for an import duty waiver on wheat. According to ZNFU, the proposed waiver would be detrimental to local wheat production. “Zambia should consider adopting the South African system of supporting local production of wheat by maintaining…
The electronic voucher (e-vouchers) system for the 2016/2017 farming seasons is mired in delays, because of a cash shortfall of K400 m. This according to Agriculture permanent secretary Julius Shawa, who appeared before parliament’s budget committee. Shawa said his ministry needed K1.04 bn to sufficiently fund the e-voucher payments. So…
The governor of the Bank of Zambia (BOZ), Denny Kalyalya, has urged government to scrap the Farmer Input Support Programme (FISP). The cost of the programme increased with K1.8 billion to K2.3billion in the last two years. Kalyalya appeared before the Parliamentary Committee on Budget and Estimates. He said such…
Farmers exposed widespread malpractices in the distribution of the Farming Inputs Support Programme (FISP). They claim they have been disadvantaged by unscrupulous people and government agents who were profiting from the system. The claims came days after minister of agriculture, Dora Siliya, declared that FISP had failed to propel small-scale…
The Zambian government’s roll-out of the ZMW 400 million (US$ 40 million) Farmer Input Support Programme (FISP) to farmers using the e-voucher payment systems has experienced glitches in some parts of the country. This resulted in delays in the delivery of inputs as the summer planting season gets under way.…
