Inadequate funding affects operations at the Ministry of Agriculture in Eastern Province.

Lack of adequate funding has crippled operations at the Ministry of Agriculture in the province.
This came to light during a budget tracking programme on Breeze FM this morning.
Provincial Agricultural Coordinator, Dr. Obvious Kabinda, says that just over 4 million Kwacha was received out of 21 million Kwacha allocated to the ministry.
And reacting to concerns raised during the programme, the Provincial Agricultural Coordinator acknowledged that over 4.9 billion kwacha is still owed to retirees from the Ministry of Agriculture.
Dr Kabinda, explained that since 2006, government had only released 43 million in 2010 and 1.527 billion in 2013 for the retirees.
He says that despite funds not being enough, his ministry was trying its best to address the challenges being faced.
He says that Msekera Research Institute, was one of the projects under the ministry which is underperforming, due to lack of adequate funding.
However, Dr Kabinda was pleased to note that the province was still leading in the production of maize seed, groundnuts, sunflower, as well soya beans.
He expressed confidence that the province will continue to perform well in the coming farming season.