By ERNEST SIMFUKWE
FARMERS in Choma District in Southern province have appreciated the transition from the Direct Input Supply (DIS) modality to the Electronic Voucher system (e-voucher) which is a digital platform that allows eligible farmers to receive and redeem electronic vouchers for agricultural inputs under the Farmer Input Support Programme (FISP).
Speaking on behalf of farmers found redeeming the inputs, Edward Chacila, a farmer from Malindi Agricultural Camp said that the modality is good because it gives farmers flexibility to choose the inputs they need from different agro dealers thereby reducing on the queuing witnessed in the DIS modality.
Mr Chacila thanked the Government for the timeliness exhibited in ensuring that famers have their inputs and appealed if possible, to be receiving these inputs even sooner so that their planting season is not affected by the process of input redemption.
He further appealed to agro dealers to open some depots within the farmers’ localities e.g in agricultural camps for easy accessibility by the farmers which will help them reduce on costs for traveling to the Central Business District.
And Choma District Marketing Development Officer Bright Mushimbalume has said that the system under implementation is good because it promotes transparency and accountability by allowing the Ministry to track vouchers as redeemed by the farmers.
“The District has an allocation of 27,000 beneficiaries and so far, all the 27,000 beneficiaries have deposited for their inputs. The District is done with the implementation of FISP for 2024/2025 farming season and it is confident that the e-voucher system is ideal especially if time is observed before the official launching of the redemption period,” he said.
He added that the modality is cost effective in that costs for transportation are cut off and the District saw an increment in the number of agro dealers who participated in redeeming.
Meanwhile, some farmers who spoke on anonymity raised concerns about the increasing price of agricultural commodities, urea fertilizer in particular whose price has been raising from K990 to the current prevailing price of K1, 150.
Farmers are appealing to Government to put in place a policy to stabilise fertilizer prices during the farming season especially at the time when farmers are redeeming as some agro dealers might be taking advantage of the demand and try to accumulate more than usual.
The farmers have also raised concerns about the bonding of FISP beneficiary for the sale of white maize grain to FRA which stipulates that the FISP beneficiary supply a minimum of 10 x 50 kilogramme bags of maize to the Food Reserve Agency for sale. This was raised as farmers are not certain about 2024/2025 season’s rainfall pattern.
Choma District has been one of the districts practicing the Direct Input Supply (DIS) Modality in the implementation of the Farmer Input Support Programme (FISP) whose primary aim is to improve the accessibility of agricultural inputs for small-scale farmers at a reduced cost, thereby enhancing their productivity. This is a system that is intended to improve the efficiency and accessibility of agricultural input distribution. –NAIS
