The much awaited new biometric tobacco growers’ registration system planned for acquisition by the Tobacco Control Commission (TCC) has been delayed for a year.
TCC wants to install the system to, among other things, achieve efficiency and speed in the registration of tobacco farmers.
TCC chief executive officer, Albert Changaya, said in an interview that the rolling out of the system, called Novameric, which was scheduled for installation this year, has been delayed as the commission wanted to be sure about some specifications for compatibility to expectations.
He said TCC has since procured machines which will arrive in the country in March at a cost of US$1.3 million or K975 million at the current exchange rate.
“Of course this does not include transportation from South Africa and to various centres where they will be installed,” he said.
Changaya said substations for the machine will be set-up in 21 centres across the country and that the supplier of the equipment will send its personnel to train local TCC officials in the operations of the machines.
“We have 21 teams that will be stationed at our division offices and other areas to help in capturing data during the initial stage of the process to feed our data base. And once we do this, farmers will no longer need to travel long distances,” he said He said the new system will be on a trial run during the first months of its inception and that the next registration exercise of 2016/2017 is expected to use the new system.
Tobacco Association of Malawi (Tama) president, Reuben Maigwa, said the new system will prevent farmers from waiting long periods to register and access their registration numbers.
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