E-voucher way to go – President Hichilema

President Hakainde Hichilema says electronic voucher is the way to go in the distribution of farm inputs. He said this at the 119th Zambia National Farmers’ Union (ZNFU) annual congress in Lusaka today.

President Hichilema said Farmer Input Support Programme (FISP) is good because it assures food security.

He, however, said FISP needs reforms.

“E-voucher itself taught us something. When we implemented it in 74 districts, we weeded out over 200, 000 fake beneficiaries.

“So we should celebrate e-voucher, with all the reservations that we have. That’s why we are going 100 percent of e-voucher this year. So e-voucher is the way to go so that at least fertiliser and seed is received by genuine farmers,” the President said.

President Hichilema also said Government wants to work closely with farmers on crop genetics.

“We need early maturing, high yielding, disease and drought resistant crops,” he said.

He further encouraged farmers around the country to take seriously irrigation agriculture and water harvesting.

 “Government has targeted a minimum of 500, 000 hectares to be on irrigation so that rain or no rain, food security will be assured. But to do that, we want to promote water harvesting,” President Hichilema said.

The President is elated that Zambian farmers are leading the way in hardwork.

He indicated that everyone needs to find ways of working harder and smarter.

“Government should do its part to assist the farmers to work harder and smarter, given the environmental variables like climate change.

“We should work together to build resilience so that we can have some level of certainty in our overall production. We need to act together – farmers and government,” said President Hichilema.