Farmers in Mwinilunga District of Northwestern Province have bemoaned the low number of people awarded loans under the Sustainable Agriculture Financing Facility (SAFF) in the district.
The situation has raised concern among farmers and applicants in the district who have questioned the award criteria and viability of the agricultural loan facility.
Julius Musesa a farmer from Kamfumbu block expressed disappointment that out of over 300 farmers who applied for the 2024/2025 farming season SAFF loans in the district only five applicants have so far been cleared to access the loans.
Speaking on behalf of other farmers who stormed ZANIS offices in the District, Mr Musesa described the situation as worrisome because the five successful applicants are also currently unable to redeem their inputs.
He alleged that the three Agro-dealers participating in the SAFF in the district have not released inputs to the farmers because the system codes have not been activated.
Mr Musesa wondered how the loan acquisition process in some districts experiencing poor rainfall was going on smoothly while the situation is different in Mwinilunga which is enjoying adequate rains to support the objectives of the SAFF.
“As farmers here in Mwinilunga we are not happy, it looks like officials at the Ministry of Agriculture are prioritising regions they hail from in giving these loans, how come some areas which do not even have rains have a lot of farmers who have already received these loans while us here just five, who also are not able to redeem because they have not been given codes” Mr Musesa questioned.
He said farmers in the District are left to conclude that there could be officials in the Ministry of Agriculture who are deliberately acting to frustrate President Hakainde Hichilema’s agenda to develop and expand the agriculture sector.
Mr Musesa has since called on President Hakainde Hichilema to take a keen interest in the happenings at the Ministry of Agriculture, especially around the administration of the SAFF loans.
Meanwhile Acting District Agricultural Coordinator (DACO) Audrey Liswaniso explained to ZANIS that as at January, 14, 2025, one Agro dealer had indicated being ready to issue inputs while the five loan beneficiaries had also received their codes.
“One of the biggest challenges we have is that the only bank participating in the SAFF has no physical presence in the District, but is using an agent who submitted all the applications we gave them to their branch in Kalumbila District,” she said.
Ms. Liswaniso attributed the slow pace to access the SAFF loans to the absence of a participating bank in the district and that 95 out of 305 applications have however been processed and domiciled in Kalumbila District.
