Electronic smart cards for Egypt’s farmers
A pilot program to eliminate administrative corruption within the Ministry of Agriculture, prevent its employees from tampering with paper documents and ensure that subsidies reach the proper recipients. It will start in the governorate of Isma’iliyah.
"Now, farmers will have more choices about how and when they use their subsidies and the freedom to take any kind of fertilizer or seeds whenever they like and without [letting] this support go to waste."
(Farid Wasil, Egypt’s Farmers Union)
The electronic cards will store information including a farmer’s name, identification number and agricultural land holdings. This will not only help farmers receive the subsidies they are entitled to, but it will also help to establish a vast database and provide precise information for state agricultural planning and design purposes.
The card will also benefit the state because the resulting database will keep track of land holdings and the types of cultivated lands, which represents an advancement for Egypt’s agricultural sector.
[Read full article by Rami Galal via Al Monitor | Photo by camilo g.r. - Flickr]
