AGRO DEALERS NOT ALLOWED TO CHARGE TOP-UP

MBABANE – As farmers scramble for inputs under government’s subsidy programme, NMC has clarified some pertinent issues related to the programme.

The Ministry of Agriculture, through the National Maize Corporation (NMC) implements a multi-million Emalangeni farming input subsidy programme. The initiative provides inputs to farmers at a subsidised cost. In the past week, NMC released a list of 36 (initially 33) agro dealers that have been authorised to supply farmers with inputs for the ploughing season. One of the farmers, through the corporation’s official Facebook page, had sought clarity regarding the issue of the top-up.

Supposed

In response, NMC said agro dealers were not supposed to charge top-up. “In instances where seed variety or any of the inputs is above the total package, agro dealers have a responsibility to engage the farmers for the best alternative within the bouquet of inputs,” stressed NMC. A Mankayane farmer, on the other hand, said he paid for the inputs, but alleged that their outlets did not stock some of their preferred inputs. “We are aware that some agro dealers might not have all the inputs. In such instances, we encourage the farmer to consider looking for the next available agro dealers. We have appointed over 30 this farming season,” said NMC.

Another farmer claimed that they were given 20kg bags of seeds instead of the prescribed 25kg.“The inputs are as per the notice we issued. “Any agro dealer that supplies the farmer anything less than that should be reported to NMC for appropriate action,” said the corporation. Most of the farmers’ concerns centred on alleged unavailability of the inputs in some of the selected agro dealers, expressing their frustration as time was not on their side.

Released

Notably, the agro dealers’ list has been released belatedly as compared to the past year. In 2020, it was released in September, while this year it was available about a month later. However, this past Monday, NMC CEO Rechi Dlamini was on national radio and she apologised for the delay. “When we go to some of the mentioned stores, they say that the things haven’t been delivered,” alleged one of the farmers, saying it was it derailing them in the bid to take advantage of the rains received lately.

Meanwhile, the inputs include white maize, sugar beans, sorghum, insecticides and pesticides. Farmers are advised to bring along their original deposit slips together with their identity documents (IDs) to the listed agro dealers of their choice. Meanwhile, the costs for the inputs have increased this year by E500 on average. For maize seeds and fertiliser, farmers will now pay E3 500. Those planting sugar beans will pay the highest amount (E4 000) while sorghum farmers will fork out half the amount. For tractor services, each farmer is to pay E270 per hour. Deadline for payment of the inputs is the last day of this month (Sunday).
“The deadline is for payment. However, farmers are allowed to collect up to the end of November 2021,” said NMC.

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