Sat, 06 Jan 2018 11:59:30 +0000
By Muyani Shinjabale
THE positive attitude towards the e-voucher system in the Copperbelt headquarters has been praised.
Ndola District Commissioner, Canon George Chisulo said as of December 29 last year about 6200 farmers had received their e-voucher cards.
Mr. Chisulo said the 6200 represented 72 per cent of the total number of beneficiaries in the district of Ndola.
He told the Daily Nation that of the 6200 cards received 87 percent were distributed and 2000 cards were ready for exchange to get inputs.
“However only 5200 farmers had paid by December 29 of last year.
“Despite a few challenges encountered such as the system of swapping which is taking long at times and failing the agro dealers as they can not access the system with ease.
“Also about 2700 cards have not yet been received and some of the ones received have a few errors such as incorrect names or e voucher numbers,” Mr. Chisulo noted.
Meanwhile the District Commissioner also gave an update on the army worm situation noting that a number of army worms were reported to have become a problem in the areas of Kaniki, Minsundu, Chijere, Madando, Nakaputa, Kafubu, Munkulungwe, Kavu and Munchinka of Ndola District.
Mr Chisulo said the affected fields added up to ll02 hectors of land representing approximately 2l00 farmers or households in the district.
He said Government was therefore, working around the clock to raise awareness to farmers on army worms.
Mr Chisulo advised farmers that as they collected their inputs from agro dealer’s shops they should also include pesticides on their package.
