One hundred and one farmers have been successfully approved to access the Sustainable Agriculture Financing Facility (SAFF) loans in Mambwe District. 

Mambwe District Agriculture Coordinator, Henry Mukulumoya, said over 500 applications were received out of which only 101 applications were approved. 

Mr Mukulumoya said 23 farmers out of 101 have so far been paid.

He told ZANIS in an interview that the SAFF was a very good initiative which would greatly assist farmers if put to good use.

Mr Mukulumoya, however, observed that the loans would have been more beneficial if they were being disbursed in November.

“As things stand now, it is late to plant. The optimum time for planting has already passed. It would have been better if the loans were disbursed as early as November,” he said.

Mr Mukulumoya also observed that recovering the loans from the farmers, especially those who applied using other things as collateral, would be a challenge if the farm yields were not good due to floods. 

He also advised civil servants who had been approved to access the loans to put what they receive to good use as the bank would ensure it recovered the loans through Direct Debit Credit Clearing (DDAC).