The Maravi Post

BLANTYRE—Starting next farming season, authorities in the central district of Kasungu have said they will only be registering beneficiaries of the Farm Input Subsidy Programme (Fisp) from the gazetted villages.

The district’s committee, which is responsible for the implementation of Fisp there, said they want to stamp out ghost villages, thereby ensuring smooth implementation of the government sponsored programme.

“We have agreed to start registering beneficiaries legally recognized villages; we have been experiencing problems because of the inconsistency regarding the number of villages in the district.

“For instance, when we were validating the figures for 2012 subsidy programme, we discovered the number of villages had skyrocketed compared to 201. It is on this premise that authorities have agreed to stamp out ghost villages,” said Jackson Nkombezi, district’s agricultural management officer.

However, he couldn’t tell the number of gazetted villages.

The move comes against concerns that more money was spent in the overall input subsidy programme.
---

© The  Maravi Post 2013

Add attachment