AGRICULTURE Minister Mtolo Phiri says there are “crooks” within and outside the ministry who want to take advantage of fertiliser distribution under the Farmer Input Support Programme. We are glad that the minister is at least speaking plainly. There is no point pretending that the Ministry of Agriculture is a clean place when it comes to fertiliser procurement and distribution. It is one of the government institutions where tenderpreneurs have been ripping off the State for years. Fertiliser is gold in this country, and the crooks the minister is referring to are not small-time opportunists. They are part of a huge syndicate. For a long time, these cartels have understood one simple fact: once government starts procuring fertiliser for FISP,...
