Agro-Input dealers accredited by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Animal Industries (MAAIF) have petitioned Parliament seeking payment of supplied agro-inputs to farmers worth Shs21 billion.
The 110 dealers working under the Agriculture Cluster Development Project were to supply inputs including maize, beans, cassava, rice and coffee to over 10 districts.
Maruzi County MP, Hon Maxwell Akora who presented a petition on behalf of the dealers during plenary on 03 March 2022 said that they are stuck with stock worth Shs16.9 billion imported specifically for the project.
“ln order to facilitate the implementation of the project, the accredited dealers were to supply the specified agro-input products through the e-voucher scheme (digitized) that is managed by an e-voucher management agency,” Akora said.
Akora however, said that the project is facing challenges resulting from the shutdown of the e-voucher system since December 2021.
“During the implementation of the e-voucher system, there have been glitches and the system would often go off and the project management would direct the dealers to supply the inputs manually to the beneficiary farmers, but to date, they have not been paid,” said Akora.
He noted that as a result, the dealers have been affected given that the funds to support the project were predominantly acquired through bank loans on the understanding that MAAIF would be making instant payments for every transaction.
Deputy Speaker, Anita Among directed MAAIF to present a report on the status of the payment of the dealers within two weeks.
The Agriculture Cluster Development Project is a six year project implemented by MAAIF with the support from International Development Agency of the World Bank with the objective of raising on form productivity, production, and marketable volumes of selected agricultural commodities in specified geographical clusters.