GOVERNMENT has said it will not be a part of any agreement between farmers and agro dealers who obtained inputs and other farmer implements using the Sustainable Agriculture Financing Facility (SAFF) loans as a form of collateral.

Minister of Agriculture Mtolo Phiri said although it was a great idea for farmers to get an input loan from an agro dealer using SAFF as security the government will not involve itself in the said agreement.

Mr Phiri said this when he addressed farmers that have applied for the SAFF loans in Petauke District of Eastern Province.

“The government will not engage itself as a third party in a programme of a farmer and an agro dealer. We will not! I want to make it very clear. For you who went into such an agreement, it was a good idea but that programme is between you and the agro dealer.

“The only help I can offer is to go to the bank that is why I have said write the names so that we can deal with the issue; not me going to the agro dealer because I don’t know what happened between you and the agro dealer so I will not get the government involved,” he said. 

Mr Phiri, was responding to concerns raised by farmers who had gone into agreements with agro dealers to provide them with inputs and pay for them later once the SAFF loans were funded.

The Minister however assured the farmers of government support by ensuring access to affordable financing facilities to boost agricultural production and productivity.

He explained that he will engage the various banks involved in the SAFF programme with the government to ensure farmers are paid soon.

“I will go to the banks myself and take your names myself so that we find a solution. If you go alone on yourself, that’s when they will ask you for a guarantor who has a payslip,” he said.

Moses Daka, a SAFF applicant who went into a contract with an agro dealer raised the issue wanting the government to rescue him from his predicament.

“What we did as farmers since we applied in October, after we saw that the government was taking  long, we decided to get inputs on credit from agro dealers,” he said.

And Michael Zulu, who is also Headman Chilembwe appreciated the timely engagement but appealed for quick intervention from the government over the alleged delayed payments of SAFF loans.

“This programme you have given us, we know it will not take that long so we are asking that by Friday this week things should show direction where it is going. If it is not going to happen, then we will follow what you will guide,” he said.