By SEBASTIAN CHIPAKO–
A senior Government official in the Ministry of Agriculture in Muchinga Province has urged business enterprises to develop quality business proposals for them to access funding under the Enhanced Smallholder Agribusiness Promotion Programme (E-SAPP).
E-SAPP Muchinga Province focal point person Mwansa Mwaba said in an interview that the matching grant under the programme was very competitive.
He said there was need for quality proposals.
Mr Mwaba said under E-SAPP’s second window of the matching grant support, business enterprises from all districts of the province needed to formulate business proposals that would benefit the community.
“The business proposal has to show that ultimately, the community in areas they will be based will sustainably benefit with their income and nutritional levels increasing significantly,” he explained.
Mr Mwaba said resources under the second window of the project had drastically reduced, making competition even more stiff.
He said countrywide, the resources were in one basket and proposals were funded based on the benefits to the farming communities and quality of the proposals.
“Countrywide, these resources under window 2 are in one basket and the grants are awarded competitively as the proposals are received. So there is need for entrepreneurs in the province to rise to the challenge and ensure they have a chance amid these dwindling resources,” Mr Mwaba.
He said proposals under the second window were not restricted to the rice value chain but could also be on small livestock value chain and common beans.
He said regardless of the project solely concentrating on the rice value chain in Muchinga Province, businesses could exploit other areas of diversification such as the livestock value chain and mixed beans.
The focal point person said these were growth areas with potentially massive benefits that could ripple to the local communities for improved livelihoods.
Mr Mwaba said the intention of the project was to have the business enterprises benefit the small scale producers and clearly indicate constraints they would be addressing.
Mr Mwaba disclosed that last year, in addition to the support of tractors the project gave to rice producer groups in Isoka district, two enterprises from Isoka and Chinsali had been funded close to K2 million matching grants each under the rice value chain.
He said the enterprises would help to rice increase production, quality, marketing and help to ensure that the benefits trickled down to other districts of the province.
“Last year, only two business proposals were approved after a thorough evaluation out of about four proposals received across the province. The response was not good and as a province, we could not take full advantage of the marching grant facility,” he said.
M Mwaba stressed the need for the business community to take advantage of the grant and contribute to uplifting the living standards of their communities.
He said opportunities in the other value chains would need to be exploited to not only benefit the community but also open business opportunities and expand the industries.
Mr Mwaba said the business community still had a chance, even though small, to benefit from the marching grant facility.
He urged the businesses to apply in the specified areas of growth. – NAIS.
