A Review of the Implementation of the Farmer Input Support Programme (FISP)

This paper was submitted on January 25, 2022 by Musika Development Initiatives (Musika) in response to the invitation by the Committee on Agriculture, Lands and Natural Resources of the National Assembly of Zambia to comment on the implementation of the Farmer Input Support Programme (FISP).

In order to develop an understanding of issues in the implementation of the Farmer Input Support Program (FISP), the committee presented an outline of the key points it sought to interrogate, which included but were not limited to the following:
i) Appreciate the adequacy of the policy and legal framework governing the Farmer Input Support Programme;

ii) Ascertain the impact of (FISP) on the small-scale farmers; iii) Appreciate measures that have been put in place to ensure that only deserving farmers benefitted from the program, if any;

iv) Appreciate the private sector involvement in the Farmer Input Support Programme;

v) Appreciate budgetary allocations for the Farmer Input Support Programme year by year for the last five years;

vi) Appreciate the strategies put in place by government for the improvement of FISP;

vii) Ascertain the challenges that have been faced in the implementation of FISP; and

viii) Recommendations on the way forward.