Food Security Pack (FSP) Programme

The Food Security Pack (FSP) was introduced in November 2000 by Government as a Social Safety Net programme, to primarily empower vulnerable but viable farmer households who had lost their productive assets due to recurrent unfavorable climatic conditions and adverse effects of structural adjustment reforms that reduced their productivity at household level in the 1990s.

The objective of the programme is to empower the poor and vulnerable but viable farmer households with agricultural inputs and livelihood skills to improve their productivity with the ultimate goal of enhancing their food, nutrition and income security for self-sustainability and poverty reduction.

The programme has three major components namely; Rainfed Cropping, Wetland Cropping and Alternative Livelihood Initiative (ALI).

These components of the FSP programme are implemented in all the 116 Districts countrywide. The support is not intended as a free handout and therefore the programme provides for 10% Pay Backs or recoveries after the beneficiary has been assisted. The pay back are either kept at community level or sold off and funds that are realized are used by the community members for other food enhancing.

In enrolling beneficiaries, the programme targets vulnerable but viable farmer households who meet all the primary and at least one (1) secondary selection criteria. The primary and secondary criteria are as shown below:

i) Primary selection criteria

1. Adequate own labour provided by the household
2. Access to land of size between ½ and 2 hectares
3. Household head or breadwinner not in gainful employment
4. ii) Secondary selection criteria

1. Female headed household
2. Child headed household
3. Disabled headed household
4. Household keeping orphans or abandoned children
5. Household with more than 7 members
6. Household with child or children under 5 years of age
7. Household headed by a terminally ill person
8. Household headed by a person aged 65 years and above
9. Household headed by unemployed (15 – 35 years)

RAINFED

Under the Rain-fed Cropping programme, beneficiaries are supported with a food security pack which consists of fertilizers (Compound D and Urea) and seeds (cereal and legume) to cultivate on approximately 3 limas (3/4 hectare) for two (2) consecutive years in the rain season after which they are weaned off.

The pack under this component is composed of 10Kg cereal, 10Kg legume and fertilizer (D Compound and Urea). With this pack, the beneficiary household cultivates 2 limas for the cereal and approximately 1 lima for the legume. For example, during the 2021/2022 farming season, beneficiary households were supported 2 by 50 Kg D Compound fertilizer, 1 by 50 Kg Urea fertilizer and 10Kg for cereal and legume seeds.

WETLAND

Under the Wetland Cropping Programme, beneficiary households are supported with a food security pack which consists of fertilizer (D Compound and Urea) and seed (cereal and vegetable) to cultivate 1 lima in winter. These households are also supported for two consecutive seasons.

The pack under this component is comprised of 1 by 50 Kg bag of D Compound fertilizer, 1 by 50 Kg bag of Urea fertilizer and seed which can either be maize or vegetable.

ALTERNATIVE LIVELIHOODS INTERVENTION

The Alternative Livelihoods Intervention introduces the provision of non-crop agricultural inputs emphasizing on small livestock and poultry such as goats, sheep and chickens and other food security enhancing projects such as Hammer mills and maize shellers. The beneficiaries are supported as individual households or communities.