Q FM Africa's Modern Radio
Zambia National Farmers Union (ZNFU) President Jervis Zimba has commended government for placing provinces that were under the Farmer Input Support Program (FISP) electronic voucher system on the direct input supply modality.
Mr. Zimba notes with satisfaction that the cancelation of the electronic voucher system for Lusaka, Western and Southern provinces.
Speaking in a phone interview, Mr. Zimba says there is need to overhaul the whole structure of FISP, because its current form does not benefit farmers, but only advantages middlemen in the supply chain of farming inputs.
He has advised government to engage stakeholders in the future before they reconsider to apply the E-voucher system.
Government recently noted an imbalance in the value of inputs that farmers under the E-voucher collect compared to those on the direct supply system thereby prompting the cancelation of the electronic voucher system to equalize the value of inputs collected under FISP.