Permanent Secretary in the office of the Vice President of the Republic of Gambia, Loum Lieu says his country has a lot to learn about Zambia’s successful implementation of an integrated farmers beneficiaries registration system implemented by the Smart Zambia Institute.

Mr. Lieu says the Smart Zambia project on the farmers registry is a success that the Gambian government can tap from.

He states that the Zambian national farmers project is an innovation that is effective and a success that Gambia would like to implement in its country.

He said this during a joint press briefing at the Electronic Government Division, SMART Zambia Institute (SZI) at government complex in Lusaka.

“At the end of the day, we understood here that the process of building first the farmer registry which you have as a country, for us the similarity is that we also have pockets of them but our focus for now is as a country is building the national registry system which we have as a country as we speak,” he explained.

The Gambian PS has indicated that integration of the Zambia’s farmers input support programme and the food security pact systems would help to avoid the inclusion and exclusion of the deserving farmers.

“The other thing that we have learned is the institutional arrangement. We’ve seen the role that the Smart Zambia Institute has played and if it’s to be successful, you must have a leader. I think we’ve seen how the Smart Zambia under the leadership of the national coordinator has managed to lead these two different systems and we believe we will learn from that,” said Mr. Lieu.

Mr. Lieu further commended the Smart Zambia Institute for using domestic financing to support its programmes by incorporating them in the national budget, to ensure their sustainability.

He further thanked the Zambian government for allowing them to learn from them saying it will have a positive impact in the Gambia’s agricultural social welfare system and ultimately improve the lives of the farmers and the vulnerable people.

And SMART Zambia National Coordinator, Percy Chinyama thanked the Gambian government for choosing Zambia as their learning guide to formulate their national farmers registry.

Mr. Chinyama said a seven day learning visit by Gambia is culminating from the Innovation Africa summit where networks and relationships were created.

He added that the relationship created between the two countries will create an opportunity for both countries to learn from each other.

The Gambian Permanent Secretary and his delegation have been in the country for seven days and are expected to leave for Gambia tomorrow the March 1st, 2024.