E-voucher research outcome elates State
By BUSINESS REPORTER THE importation of illegal agricultural products has posed a challenge to the growth of the sector, Zambia National Farm- ers Union (ZNFU) has said.
ZNFU president, Jervis Zimba, observed that the influx of illegal agricultural products through both formal and informal import points onto the domestic market was stifling the expansion of the industry.
Mr Zimba in an interview emphasised that the illegal imports had a negative impact on the local industry including loss of jobs and reduced growth of the agricultural sector.
He said ZNFU would engage the Ministry of Finance through the taskforce on illegal imports at the Zambia Revenue Authority, to offer support towards curbing illegal imports of agricultural products.
“The union position is that Government through the ministry of finance, ministry of commerce, trade and industry, and ministry of agriculture must take special interest in the case for import protection owing to the vulnerability of the sector to illegal imports from neighbouring countries.
“The union submits that the ministry of finance and the ministry of commerce, trade and industry need to galvanise enough support from industry to collaborate on efforts of stopping illegal imports of agricultural products,” he said.
Mr Zimba has since celled on Government to mitigate the situation in the same way it responded to other issues in the sector such as army worm crisis. By BUSINESS REPORTER GOVERNMENT has commended the E-voucher research findings by the Policy Monitoring and Research Centre (PMRC) which showed that the system has increased efficiency.
Agriculture Ministry Chief Agricultural Economist Anayawa Mutemwa agreed with the research outcome that the e-voucher system had yielded progressive results.
Mr Mutemwa was speaking during the launch of preliminary findings on the assessment of the implementation of the e-voucher 2017 2018 by PMRC.
"As a ministry we are cognizant of the critical role that PMRC plays to contribute towards the growth and development of the agricultural sector through policy research and recommendations that have provided necessary and reliable evidence for effective decision making," he said.
Mr Mutemwa observed however that the E-voucher system has had its own setbacks including delayed activation of cards by some financial institutions to allow beneficiaries to redeem the inputs.
Mr Mutemwa represented Agriculture Minister Michael Katambo at the launch.
At the same function, PMRC executive director Bernadette Deka said her organisation has an obligation to equip the general citizenry with up-to date information for them to make informed decisions.
"We have a critical role to play in shaping the development discourse and direction of our country, which we achieve through our quality and timely research,” she said.
Meanwhile PMRC researcher Mr Miselo Bwalya advised government to enhance sensitization and ensure that financial institutions integrated fully with the E-voucher system.