Government introduces e-voucher system to eliminate fake agro-input dealers

Government through the Ministry of Agriculture Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF) is determined to develop a sustainable functioning input market in order to fight fake inputs on market, hence increasing the productivity or output.

According to the Senior Agriculture Crop Inspector in the ministry, Mr Moses Edward Erongu, there has been a big challenge of fake inputs on market, leading to low productivity of the output because farmers don’t get the right agriculture inputs.

“Through the five year project of the Agriculture cluster Development Project, we want to develop a sustainable functioning input market which will help us monitor and regulate quality of inputs on market; lowering of transaction costs, and establish collaboration between the large scale dealers and lower level dealers,” he said this during the National Agro input dealer’s workshop on Development of Agro-input markets held at Ridar Hotel in Seeta Mukono District on Wednesday.

Mr Erongu noted that once there’s a sustainable functioning input market, farmers will no longer have to run up and down looking for different inputs.

“Under this project, the government has introduced an electronic Voucher Management System (e-Voucher) which will be used to distribute agro inputs to farmers through accredited dealers,” he said.

Mr Erongu also said that in this year, the project will expand to the entire 57 cluster district targeting a number of 450,000 farmers. 

Mr Joseph Gombya from Nsanja Agro chemicals said, this project will enable them to deliver their inputs down to the farmers in different areas.

“This will help in eliminating fake inputs and their dealers because farmers will know where to buy these inputs from other than buying from anywhere they find and they end up buying fake inputs,” he said.

According to the deputy Project Coordinator, Dr Stephen Ojangole, the government introduced the Agriculture cluster Development Project to raise farm productivity and marketable volumes of the selected agricultural commodities in specified geographical cluster.

“We strongly believe that the commercial production of these crops through ACDP will contribute to the achievement of per capita income because farmers will be able to access right inputs through the sustainable functioning input market,” he said.