NEBBI. A total of 3, 640 model farmers in Nebbi district who were registered under the Agricultural Cluster Development Program [ACDP)] to access agricultural inputs via the e-voucher system want their money refunded after the system has failed to deliver.
According to farmers, they spent the whole season waiting for the system to be activated so that they could access the inputs but it was not possible as the electronic platform, handled by the contractors, United Bank for Africa, failed.
The e-voucher for the farmers was introduced to bring faster services nearer to the farmers but now in Nebbi, it delayed planting in the new season as farmers failed to access seeds and other farm items.
One of the group members of Adiya-Rach Agricultural Development Association from Atego Sub-county, Akech Anzila says she paid for the tarpaulin and other farm items through the e-voucher system she is yet to receive the items, even as the planting season is coming to an end.
Akech said farmers were promised timely delivery of the inputs after making payments via the system but the system later went offline, making it hard for the farmers to access the inputs they paid for.
“We shall take the Ministry of Agriculture to court for the failed e-voucher system since we could not plant during the new season because we did not get materials that we paid for through the system,” Akech said.
A coffee farmer in Erussi Sub-county, Ginaro Unenchan says, the e-voucher system has not met the farmers’ expectations due to net interruptions, for instance, he said, Vodacom telecommunication network from DR-Congo interrupts local networks in Nebbi.
“We were trained by the Ministry of Agriculture on how to access services on the e-voucher system but the system left farmers disappointed and now farmers are demanding the service providers to refund their money,” Unenchan said.
He urged the government to redesign the system if it want farmers to continue using it.
The manager of YesuDit Cooperative, Louis Onencan said out of 776 cassava farmers who applied and paid for the cassava cuttings through the e-voucher system, only four succeeded, which means, he said, the cooperative’s cassava factory could face the shortage of cassava supplies in the months ahead.
However, the ACDP focal point person Nebbi district, Joyce Piwa confirmed that 906 farmers who paid for the services through the e-voucher system failed to get the services due to system failure from the service provider.
As such, she said, the Agriculture Ministry has asked the service providers to refund the farmers’ money.
She said farmers paid for items like tractor hiring, cassava cuttings, coffee pulpier, tarpaulin and farm implements at a 33 percent discount, adding that failure by the system to deliver the items has created gaps in agricultural production in the district.
She adds that Ministry has terminated the contract of United Bank for Africa after their failed e-voucher system.
https://thecooperator.news/aninolal-sacco-gets-farm-inputs-from-uk-based-lango-association/
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