News

More than 21,000 new households have been enrolled by the E-Voucher electronic agricultural input distribution platform of the West African Agricultural Productivity Program, PPAAO Niger, said its country coordinator.

According to the latter, between May 29 and June 19, 2018, following the launch of the scaling-up phase of the E-voucher platform, some 10,287 people in the 10 communes of the PPAAO actually received their input kits.

These consist of 10kg of certified millet seed (HKP or SOSSAT C88) and 3.5kg of certified cowpea seed (IT 90 k 372 -1-2).

Agricultural inputs consisting of certified millet and cowpea seeds were already pre-positioned in at least 27 distribution points in the various communes, according to the Coordinator.

At each distribution point, a local committee responsible for checking the electronic vouchers received by beneficiaries and ensuring the quality and quantity of the inputs supplied has been set up next to the supplier's representative, who is responsible for serving the quantities in accordance with the kit.

A pilot phase of distribution of goods (agricultural inputs and russet goats) for the benefit of rural populations by E-voucher, was conducted in September 2017, in 4 communes in 3 regions of Niger, (Dosso, Tillabéri and Zinder).

This test phase was a success, as it demonstrated the feasibility of E-voucher in Niger," said Mr. Baina, before pointing out that "in 5 days of testing, it was possible to serve 540 people with goat kits or inputs (seed and fertilizer) just at the start of the dry farming season".

Following this pilot phase, it was decided to extend the experiment to 20 communes during the 2018 winter season, with co-financing from PPAAO-Niger and the Projet d'Appui à l'Agriculture Sensible aux Risques Climatiques (PASEC).

The initiative is being implemented by the General Directorates of Agriculture (DGA), Animal Production and Industries(DGPIA), and the IT unit of the Nigerien government's social safety nets project, with funding from the above two projects.

The 20 selected communes are spread across the Tillabéry, Dosso and Tahoua regions for PASEC, and the Maradi and Zinder regions for PPAAO.

In terms of objectives, PPAAO is targeting 33,000 households in 295 villages totaling 230,742 people for the distribution of agricultural inputs for the 2018 winter season.

The scaling up of the E-voucher operation began last April with the collection of field data and the effective start of seed distribution at the end of May 2018.

After the first week of socio-economic data collection, the IT unit also began processing the data to gradually draw up lists of beneficiaries. These lists are then transmitted to the electronic platform, where SMS messages are sent and the actual distribution operation managed.

The distribution of agricultural inputs, or other goods, for the benefit of populations by e-voucher is well underway both in terms of communes covered (as of June 19, 2018) and for the number of beneficiaries. In fact, from 4 communes and 540 producers served in September, we have moved on to more than 10,000 beneficiaries served in 10 communes for the PPAAO Niger. It is important to note that we are not at 100% of the beneficiary service rate, and that the operation seems slow, taking around 3 weeks to complete. This is mainly due to network coverage, which is non-existent in some sites and/or irregular, making it very difficult to receive or confirm messages. As in the previous phase, the various players involved will take stock of the implementation in order to clearly identify constraints and successes, and make the necessary corrections for the next stages. Indeed, the projects are now considering the systematic use of e-voucher for the distribution of inputs and other products to vulnerable populations, given the advantages it offers.