15,000 Mkushi farmers redeem e-voucher cards

Sat, 20 Jan 2018 13:01:26 +0000

By PETER MALASHA

Over 15,000 farmers in Mkushi have deposited money and redeemed their e-voucher cards.

Mkushi District Commissioner (DC), Luka Mwamba disclosed the development to the Daily Nation in an interview.

Mr. Mwamba said out of the 17000 farmers expected to benefit from Farmer Input Support Program (FISP) in Mkushi, 15,083 had already redeemed their cards.

Mr. Mwamba said from the 17,000 FISP beneficiaries, 13,733 had benefited from GRZ contributions.

“So far government has deposited about K6, 033, 200 in various Commercial Banks for e-voucher system purposes. The government has done its part, what is remaining is for farmers to make their deposits. I think as Mkushi district, only 2,000 farmers are remaining to meet the target.” Mr. Mwamba said.

The DC said, he was happy with the manner in which the e-voucher system had been managed in Mkushi despite a few challenges because of the system being new.

Mr. Mwamba has thanked the District Agricultural Coordinator (DACO) Musenga Chella and his team for hard work including Smart Zambia as well as INDO Zambia staff who are always working up to 20:00 hours on a daily basis to ensure that farmers were served.

And Nkulumashiba Ward Councillor Orbit Kaima has appealed to government to construct a bridge across Mkushi River.

Mr. Kaima said there was need for government to construct the bridge for safer passage of people and transportation of farm inputs as well as various goods.

“I’ am appealing to government to set up a bridge on Mkushi River which is very important for the people in the area. The bridge will go a long way in alleviating risks people faced during rainy season when the river edge is full.” Mr. Kaima said.

Mr. Kaima added that he had made many request to utilise the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) but the response had been negative.