Roll out e-voucher early – ZNFU
By NATION REPORTER GOVERNMENT should roll out the e-voucher system by July to capture the planned one million farmers for the next farming season, says Zambia National Farmers Union (ZNFU) media and public relations manager Calvin Kaleyi.
And Mr Kaleyi has urged government to avoid engaging financial institutions that had a record of delaying farmers’ payments.
Government a week ago announced that it intended to capture one million farmers on the Farmer Input support Programme (FISP) e-voucher system.
Meanwhile Mr Kaleyi said it was not the first time that government had such ambitious plans but that the Àaws within the system had prevented the realisation of the plans.
Mr Kaleyi told the Daily Nation in an interview that it was impossible for the Ministry of Agriculture to capture the planned farmers if government did not make funds available on time.
“The Ministry of Finance must play its role and ensure that funds are made available on time, we cannot have a situation where farmers are accessing funds in December.
“When are they going to plant? What Government should always consider is the fact that when you disadvantage the farmer you are disadvantaging the whole country, because we rely on farmers and what affects them affects the country’s food basket,” he said.
Mr Kaleyi said there was need for government to clean up the system if the e- voucher system was to be a success as last season’s target was not met despite having an ambitious target.
“Last season again the target was one million farmers but only slightly above 700,000 farmers accessed the funds,” he said.
He said government should be vigorous with the process and avoid engaging institutions that had failed to deliver as the case was in the last farming season.