Govt acts tough on Command Agriculture beneficiaries
Farmers who benefited from the Command Agriculture programme in the past season will not be eligible to enroll for the 2021/22 season unless they pay their debts, Government through Agriculture Minister Anxious Masuka has said.
Further, Government says it reserves the right to “revoke offer letters for farmers who use their offer letters to the detriment of Government supported programmes, including an intentional failure to settle loans”.
Government’s decision comes as some “unscrupulous farmers” have been abusing the programme officially known as National Enhanced Agriculture Productivity Scheme (NEAPS), by “taking inputs and misusing them, while other farmers are not repaying their debts, even if they have capacity to do so”.
In a statement released over the weekend, Minister Masuka said while some farmers had “overwhelmingly” honoured their debt obligations, some farmers had side-marketed their crops prejudicing contractors and jeopardising repayments to banks that funded the crops.
Command agriculture or NEAPS is backed by government guarantees to banks that raise capital to lend to farmers to enhance local agricultural production through concessionary loans.
The ultimate goal for NEAPS is to convert repayments from recoveries into a revolving fund to allow current and new farmers to continue benefiting from the programme.
Through Statutory Instrument 247 of 2018, SI 145 of 2019, SI 96, SI 97, and SI 188 of 2021, government had sort to protect contractors, including government from side marketing.
“Unfortunately, some farmers have ignored these SIs and have gone ahead and side marketed their crops prejudicing contractors and jeopardising repayments to banks that funded the National Enhanced Agriculture Productivity Scheme (NEAPS),” reads part of Minister Masuka’s statement.
The agricultural transformation we seek should not be jeopardised by these few farmers, he said.
According to the statement, farmers who have fully paid their debts will be immediately enrolled for the 2021/2022 season.
However, farmers with outstanding debts will not be enrolled for the 2021/2022 season until they have made an immediate payment of at least 50 percent of the 2020/21 summer season total loan amount by September 31, 2021.
By November 30, 2021, the farmers’ repayment amount should have reached 80 percent of the total loan.
The farmers are also expected to sign a commitment with an asset pledge to pay the programme in full before the onset of the 2021/2022 season, reads the part of the statement.
Minister Masuka also said banks that lend to farmers who have not fulfilled the stated requirements will be liable for any defaults.
Since inception in 2016, over 15 000 farmers benefited from social protection schemes annually.
The success of NEAPS is dependent on repayment of loans by farmers, avoidance of side marketing, and restoration of financial discipline ethical conduct of business by all stakeholders in the agricultural value chain.-ebusinessweekly.coz.w
