Staff Reporter
IN an effort to improve food-security and to support small-scale farmers in the country, the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Land Reform, in collaboration with the United Nations Development Fund (UNDP), the Environmental Investment Fund (EIF) and NEC XON Systems Namibia launched a new digital electronic voucher system.
The new system is essentially an online granting system for small-scale farmers in the Khomas, Erongo, Kavango East and Hardap regions.
The initiative is part of the Build Back Better (BBB) programme, which is funded by the Government of Japan.
“The electronic voucher scheme issued under this project will issue horticulture and poultry farming input grants to the environmental investment fund to about 40 qualifying beneficiaries who are small- scale producers. They include women and youth aged 19 to 59 years and persons living with disabilities,” UNDP Resident Representative, Alka Bhatia, remarked.
Agriculture minister Calle Schlettwein also attended the launch and explained that “after a rigorous selection process, beneficiary small-scale farmers would receive transactional cards with transactional values corresponding to the subsidized farming inputs, which they will present at the nearest agro-outlet”. These outlets include Agra, Mega-build and Pupkewitz.
According to Schlettwein, the new system not only incentivizes small-scale farmers, but also reduces processing time, offers real-time verification and data, improves traceability and monitoring of beneficiaries and allows for better programme design and targeting.
The system aims to enhance efficiency in the delivery of farming inputs and improve the livelihoods of informal vendors in the urban and peri-urban areas.
Moreover, it also aims to strengthen food systems in order to recover from the disruptions presented by Covid-19 on the agricultural supply chains.
The Japanese Ambassador, Hideaki Harada, also highlighted the impact that Covid-19 had on the country’s agricultural sector and stated that this is one of the reasons that the government of Japan decided to provide further assistance totalling to approximately N$50 million in order to support Namibia’s agricultural development goals.
File photo for illustrative purposes only.
