A farmer from Kongola, Glenn Shebo, is concerned that unserviced tractors will delay their cultivation process this season.
Shebo blamed the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Land Reform for allegedly sending them dysfunctional tractors after they paid for the service.
"As paid-up farmers, we paid for the services of using tractors, ploughing, dissing and planting. But to our dismay, the ministry sent tractors here that were not serviced, so the moment the tractors arrived, they were broken down."
Shebo said that the Ministry informed them that they do not have service providers to fix the tractors.
"Will rain wait for the service providers to come? Our rain here only rains sometimes, and it might stop anytime soon. And if the rain stops any time soon, what's going to happen to our families? What's going to happen to food security in the region? This might jeopardise food security in the region, and then at the end of the day, we are going to have less food and people suffering from hunger."
He further expressed frustration that, as farmers, they spent a lot of money to prepare the land and now have to spend again on getting extra help to plough their fields.
"We are ploughing now; when will they germinate? You can see the people behind me; I have hired them to come and plough for me in an area where tractors should have ploughed, so I am losing double money. The money I paid to the state won't come back to me; I have lost that money already. Maybe next year, I do not know, but now I must fork out again a lot of money."
Shebo emphasised that the Ministry should look into the plight of the farmers, as most are not fortunate enough to have extra funds.
"I am not the only one; we are a lot. I am lucky that I have something; some don't have anything at all. What about those who are unfortunate, who don't have anything at all? How are they surviving? It's hard; they are not planting."
The Chief Agricultural Scientific Officer in the Ministry of Agriculture, Rodrick Maswabi, said the incident was unfortunate; however, the Ministry, through the Zambezi Regional Council, has finalised the procurement of service providers to attend to faulty government tractors in the region.
Maswabi further explained that there are two tractors in operation at Kongola for farmers to utilise, while also urging them to use alternative services such as private tractors and draught animal power services subsidised by the government.