Board needs K15mil monthly

COMMODITY boards need about K15 million a month to develop agriculture, says Agriculture and Livestock Minister John Simon.
Simon said agriculture could then generate more than K10 billion a year.
“With the price support and freight subsidy, the Government gave us some money last year but we rolled it out this year,” he said.
“With the K50 million that was given, a break up has been done and the money has been given to all the sectors.
“Coffee and cocoa got K10 million each and the rest went to spices, the Livestock Development Corporation, FPDA for food security and rubber.
“Some still have funding with them.
“That’s how careful we are in rolling out that funding.
“We need Government support.
“After June, we will be exhausting most of the funding.
“With K50 million, you can’t do much.
“Some have not benefited but some have.”
Simon said the Government price support programme and the freight subsidy had seen an increase in production for coffee and cocoa.
“People will go to the store to spend their money, shops will be employing extra people, they will be paying tax and so many spinoffs and government will collect at the end of the day a lot of tax.”
Simon said a report on the rollout of the freight subsidy and prices support initiative would be submitted to the government.