By CHATULA KANGALI –
THE Zambia National Commercial Bank (ZANACO) has completed the distribution of 49,000 Electronic Voucher cards to farmers for the 2017/2018 farming season.
ZANACO is one  of the  banks that was contracted by  Government  to provide  E-voucher cards  to farmers  under the Farmers Input  Support Programme( FISP).
The distribution of the 49,000 cards brings the total to 233,000 that the company has distributed since the inception of the programme 2015.
Chief Commercial Officer Lishala Situmbeke said the bank would continue to support Government in digitilising payment infrastructure for FISP.
Mr Situmbeko said  six new  district , namely  Chama, Sinazongwe,Chadiza,Kawambwa,Siavonga and Itezhi tezhi were  this farming  season  added  to the system.
“ ZANACO   started participating in Government  FISP  conventional programme over  10 years  ago, we  were the  first  pilot  bank   to partner with  Government, the partnership has continued to grow   over the  years and about  25 per cent of  farmers  under FISP are  getting our  cards,” he said.
Mr Situmbeko said  ZANACO was   integrated with the Government technology to provide real time data to farmers.
He said the financial institution would remain committed in supplementing Government’s effort to grow the agriculture sector through the provision of products and services.
This is according to a statement released by ZANACO head of corporate affairs Maria Karima who indicated that the bank was the first institution to deliver the 49,000 cards to farmers in 20 districts across the country.