Murang’a Governor Irungu Kang'ata on Sunday announced that his administration had launched an initiative titled Inua Mkulima Agenda which has introduced the ATM model that will allow constituents access financial support from the County government.
Speaking during an interview, Governor Kang’ata stated that in the plan which employs the use of an e-voucher, the county government is looking to empower farmers to pay school fees for their children.
According to Kang'ata, the County government loads funds into the ATM cards through which the farmers could use to shop at pre-selected merchant shops and pay school fees.
The Governor stated that the program supports 20,000 farmers who are already enrolled into the county’s database.
The County boss revealed that his government disburses Ksh 2,400 every three months to the residents within the programme.
“Therefore we devised a model called the e-voucher, this card is a model where you create an electronic wallet, load money into it and register farmers then give them the card,” explained Kang’ata.
Kang'ata further stated that the county has mapped out and pre-vetted shops through which the farmers can access essential goods.
“With this card, they can be able to get for free agrovet products like animal feeds, they can also get foodstuff like wheat flour, maise flour and cooking oil, also they can pay school fees,” stated Kang’ata.
It was revealed that farmers present the ATM card to the merchant along with their identification details, which later generates a One-Time Password (OTP) that the farmer will use to access the services.
Further, Kang’ata noted that the farmers within the programme have to be registered with co-operatives to ascertain their credibility as farmers from the county.
The programme, however, aims to double the number of beneficiaries under the programme within the next few years.
However, the Governor cited that the programme faced several challenges such as erroneous numbers keyed in the system during registration, errors that the County is working on stamping out.
The system is noted to be an upgrade from the model that the County initially used where they disbursed funds directly to the farmers in their accounts.
"For the last one year or so we used to send farmers support to buy inputs directly into your bank account in cash form, for instance for a milk farmer we would send Ksh3.5 shillings per litre delivered to the cooperative,” stated the Governor.
