By Isaac Salima:
Implementation of the 2024-25 Affordable Inputs Programme (AIP) has faced hurdles, with official figures indicating that a significant number of farmers has not benefitted from it.
Our calculations show that the government has only procured less than half of the fertiliser it planned.
Last Friday, Finance Minister Simplex Chithyola Banda told Malawians, when he presented the 2025-26 national budget statement to Parliament, that as of January 24 2025, the government had distributed 22,644 metric tonnes (mt) of NPK fertiliser.
Chithyola Banda further indicated that they had also distributed 23,704.9mt of Urea and 3,771.2mt of seeds to beneficiary farmers.
The government had allocated AIP K161 billion for the 2024-25 farming season.
The current state of the AIP is in sharp contrast to what the government promised in October last year.
Agriculture Minister Sam Kawale, flanked by his counterpart in Information and Digitalisation Moses Kunkuyu, told Malawians that they had secured 39,354mt of fertiliser.
Kawale also said that for this year’s growing season, the government needed to purchase 64,130.14mt.
“The fertiliser will be dispatched soon after payment. Four more companies are about to be cleared to be added to this list. We will inform you once that is done by the end of this week,” Kawale told reporters in Lilongwe.
The minister also assured stakeholders that the government was procuring 102,845mt through the-then budget, further indicating that the remaining 2,000mt was from carryover stock.
Fast forward to January 2025
Going by the presented figures from the Finance Minister, the government has managed to procure 46,364mt of fertiliser against the required 102,845mt.
The development means that the government has failed to purchase 56,481mt of fertiliser, which is over half of the planned amount.
About 1.1 million farming households had been earmarked to benefit from the programme.
With over half of the planned fertiliser procured, it means that over 550,000 targeted farmers have failed to receive the fertiliser.
Not all is rosy
However, according to some traditional leaders, most people in their areas have been struggling to redeem the fertiliser and seeds.
Village Head Muhulupe, who is under Traditional Authority Kawinga in Machinga District, said only two people in his area had received the coupons.
“However, the beneficiaries are also yet to redeem the fertiliser because it has been unavailable in satellite centres. Our reliable centre is Ntaja but it only received the fertiliser twice. With the increase in demand, most people have not managed to redeem it,” he said.
However, Senior Chief Kalimanjira of Nkhotakota District said this year’s programme has been better.
“My people were able to redeem the fertiliser without any problem. As I am speaking, most people have gotten the fertiliser,” he said.
Despite most of the crops being mature, some farmers are still buying the fertiliser.
For instance, this week, some farmers flocked to Mchinji Boma, where they complained that they were being forced to pay kickbacks to buy the fertiliser.
Where is the money for AIP?
The government is yet to disclose how much has been spent on the 2024-25 AIP.
At least K161 billion was set aside for the programme and, with the country only procuring less than half of the projected fertiliser, the other funds could be idle.
Kawale said recently that the government was doing its best to ensure that it meets its food security goals through initiatives such as AIP.
On his part, Chithyola Banda did not give a breakdown on how much was used to purchase the fertiliser and seeds which have been given to farmers.
He only indicated that K131.6 billion will be used for this year’s programme.
Chairperson for the Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture Sameer Suleman said that they will not approve this year’s allocation for AIP if they are not satisfied with how much has been used for the previous season.
“We are waiting to meet the Minister [of Agriculture] on Tuesday so that we get the necessary information. NFRA [National Food Reserve Agency] officials could not give us a breakdown when we asked them because they said it is the Agriculture Ministry that is handling everything,” Suleman said.
This week, President Lazarus Chakwera indicated that his government planned to gradually phase out the AIP, saying it has failed to yield desired results.
The government, through the National Economic Empowerment Fund, has also been supporting smallholder farmers by providing them fertiliser through the Farm Input Loan Programme.
Chithyola Banda said, as of February 25 2025, Neef had distributed 18,908mt of fertiliser worth K65.1 billion to 65,834 farmers.
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