Govt, ZNFU differ over e-voucher cards

…Smart Zambia says ZNFU gave a wrong figure of farmers with activated cards

ZAMBIA National Farmers Union (ZNFU) did not give the correct figure of farmers who have accessed Farmer Support Input Programme (FISP) using e-voucher cards, Smart Zambia Permanent Secretary Dr Martin Mtonga has said.

According to Dr Mtonga, who is spearheading the implementation of e-governance system, 5, 00, 552 farmers out of the targeted 1 million had accessed their farming inputs using e-voucher cards as of Saturday contrary to ZNFU’s report.

On Monday, ZNFU Media and public relations manager Kelvin Kaleyi said their findings indicated that out of the targeted one million farmers only 400, 000 farmers had accessed their e-voucher cards describing the situation as desperate.

Mr Kaleyi said it was unacceptable that only 400, 000 out of the targeted one million farmers had accessed the e-voucher cards.

He warned that Zambians should expect a negative harvest next year because 600, 000 farmers had no access to their evoucher cards despite the planting window coming to an end.

“The target is one million and only 400, 000 farmers have accessed so when will the remaining 600, 000 access because we only have a week before January?” Mr Kaleyi said.

But Dr Mtonga said 5, 537 farmers started accessing the inputs using activated e-voucher cards as of Saturday.

Dr Mtonga said it was not too late, adding that the planting season was not yet gone according to experts from the Ministry of Agriculture.

“Most of the farmers that we are helping are not commercial farmers but vulnerable farmers so when we go in the field we find that these farmers are not only getting seeds but fertiliser only because they have already planted their local maize. Most of them are interested in fertiliser and you can check with the Ministry of Agriculture. Our system is showing that most farmers are getting fertiliser, we are able to tell from the system.

He explained that the delay was as a results of some people not being sure whether the government would put in its contribution.

Dr Mtonga has promised to give another update on Saturday to ascertain how many more farmers would have accessed the inputs using the e-voucher cards.