By KENNEDY MUPESENI –

THE Policy Monitoring and Research Centre (PMRC) has urged the Government to encourage banks currently administering the e-voucher system to decentralise the activation of cards.
This will reduce time involved in implementing the system and increase efficiency.
Executive director Bernadette Deka said in a statement that it would be prudent to decentralise the activation of the e-voucher cards and allow local bank branches to handle the procedure.
“The activation of e-voucher cards is one of the major challenges that the system is facing. Activation of the cards is only done centrally by the banks via their respective head offices in Lusaka.
“This has caused delays in the activation of these cards resulting in further delay in the collection of inputs from agro-dealers,” Ms Deka said.
The other challenge noted in recent findings by the PMRC was that the card was not transferable.
She further said that because the system was currently being piloted using the Zambia National Farmers Union (ZNFU) platform, stakeholders such as district agriculture offices had no access and could not communicate directly with the banks involved in the activation of e-voucher cards.
This has lengthened the process involved leading to delays in the collection of inputs.
Ms Deka said that the impact of power load-shedding had also caused delays in the implementation of the e-voucher, as it was an electronic system that was dependent on the availability of electricity.
There was also need to address the lack of clear knowledge and information on the e-voucher system among beneficiaries.
“From the PMRC’s perspective, what needs to be done to address the highlighted challenges is clear. We would like to recommend the following mitigative measures to help address these challenges,” she said.
Ms Deka, however, said it was encouraging to note that through a mechanism such as the e-voucher system, farmers were no longer limited to cultivating maize, but were able to opt for other crop varieties that may be more profitable.