SOME farmers in Chongwe district whose inputs were not delivered after swiping, have started receiving payment reversals into their accounts, Mwalumina ward councillor Charles Malubila has said.
He said that an agro-dealer, Chawe enterprises, swiped the framers’ accounts in the last quarter of 2019, but did not deliver the inputs and
this prompted Government to reverse the transaction.
Mr Malubila disclosed this during an interview with the Daily Nation in Chongwe yesterday.
He said some people in his ward who are part of the 1,550 farmers in Chongwe had started receiving the transaction reversals.
But he noted that this was rather too late because yields would be affected negatively.
The councillor was however thankful that Government had reversed the transactions so that farmers would not lose out completely.
Mr Malubila said the framers were now free to redeem the inputs from other agro-dealers who had inputs in stock. He appealed to Government to ensure that only agro-dealers with inputs and a reputable record were awarded contracts to supply fertiliser and seed.
Without proper scrutiny, he said, farmers would continue to be disadvantaged thereby affecting household and national food security.
Mr Malubila said that Chawe enterprises Limited only delivered inputs to 78 farmers, which he said was a drop in the ocean.
He advised that no agro- dealer must be allowed to swipe farmers’ accounts if they did not have the inputs in stock.
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