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Company News of Friday, February 15, 2019
Source: thebftonline.com
2019-02-15
Owusu Afriyie Akoto
Some international development organizations have welcomed the government's introduction of a bar code system for subsidized fertilizers in the country.
According to them, this new system will reduce corruption and improve agricultural productivity and the economy. Dr. Owusu Afriyie will have a drive effect on food security and monetary stability through import substitution.
The Ministry of Agriculture (MoFA) was warmly commended for the introduction of its barcode system, which aims to strengthen accountability and reduce misappropriation of the nation's resources.
The MoFA has been the basis of the country's industrialization, and the government should help the latter to achieve the desired results for the country.
Agriculture experts believe that MoFA and Planter to feed and create jobs should be at the center of government concerns, as it promotes affordable food for children through free SHS; is a good source of raw material for the One District One Factory program; and also supports the country's balance of payments through import substitution.
If the expected support from the government comes, it means that the country will record another food surplus, as was the case last year.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has introduced the new electronic coding and traceability system to monitor the government's program of fertilizer subsidies and agricultural inputs.
The new service requires that every farmer who wishes to benefit from the subsidy be registered biometrically, and only farmers already registered can have access to the purchase of fertilizer.
Before any purchase, a retail store agent will take the farmer's fingerprints and match them to the code on the fertilizer bag.
The code identifies the region, area, type of fertilizer, source, distributor, and retailer contact information. He will be able to track all the fertilizer bags and inputs from the supplier to the end user – that is, the farmer.
The new technology is expected to eliminate fertilizer smuggling in the country, as subsidized fertilizers will now have a special code – like the tax stamp introduced by Ghana's tax authority.
This traceability technique is the most affordable off-grid and real-time technology to improve service and provide an optimized platform. Retailers will receive a set of scannable codes to label their entries based on the badigned amount.
This new, highly efficient and traceable fertilizer subsidy management system aims to ensure that farmers who have registered biometrically benefit from the government's fertilizer subsidy.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is currently deploying around 2,600 agents in all the country's fertilizer shops to register farmers with biometrics.
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