Tue, 10 Jan 2017 15:07:18 +0000 By SANDRA MACHIMA AGRO dealers contracted to distribute inputs to farmers do not have enough stock to meet farmers’ requirements, Zambia Agriculture Rural Development Initiative executive director Gilbert Mpanga has charged. Mr Mpanga said his organisation was monitoring the new electronic voucher system introduced by Government for farmers to access inputs, but had found that some contracted companies had failed to meet the needs of farmers. He said fertilizer suppliers for the e-voucher programme had undermined agro-dealers’ access to commodities as suppliers themselves were swiping direct to farmers. “As an organisation close to rural farmers we are very concerned with the number of challenges such as the late activation of e-voucher cards in some provinces when the Government had already done its part in this process. ‘‘And also some agro-dealers that are given a task to supply the farmers with commodities have no enough stock and you find that […]
