By 
German Embassy Head of Development Cooperation, Jonathan Gatze, has called for concerted efforts to teach smallholder farmers how to protect themselves against digital fraud.
Gatzer encouraged smallholders to learn how to protect themselves against fraud that had become a challenge when using digital financial solutions.
He also emphasised the need for farmers to be able to compare financial institutions offers for them to make informed decisions.
He was speaking at the accelerating access to agricultural finance for smallholder farmers in Zambia – the contribution of the private sector conference in Lusaka on Thursday.
“Smallholder farmers need to be aware of the risks in farming as a business and how to insure oneself against them. And they need to know how to protect themselves against fraud that is becoming more and more a challenge when using digital financial services,” he said.
Gatzer further encouraged other development partners to increase access to finance for farmers who were mostly underserved.
At the same function, acting Finance and National Planning Permanent Secretary-Budget and Economic Affairs, Mwaka Mukubesa, said partnerships were needed to unlock the transformative potential of rural and agricultural finance to improve production, productivity, and drive sustainable development.
Mukubesa said partnerships would help attain improved livelihoods and other positive socio-economic outcomes for the rural households and businesses.
“That is in line with the central transformative promise of the 2030 agenda for sustainable development and sustainable development goals, to which Zambia has committed itself to, that is, to leave no one behind,” she said.
International Fund for Agricultural Development Zambia country programme officer, Brian Kapotwe, said the organisation would continue to implement various projects to supplement Government’s efforts in driving the growth of the agriculture sector.
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