For many smallholder farmers across Malawi, the promise of timely access to farm inputs under Farm Input Subsidy Programme (Fisp) is once again ringing hollow this season.
Distribution delays continue to undermine one of the country’s most critical social investment schemes.
A visit to Mpemba in Blantyre on Saturday revealed a troublingly familiar scene: farmers camp for up to three days at a Smallholder Farmers Fertiliser Revolving Fund of Malawi (SFFRFM) depot, hoping to redeem the inputs before it is too late to save their crops.
Among them was Melina Banda, a Fisp beneficiary from Monjeza Village who voiced concern over her maize field.
“My worry is that my maize has now reached the knee level and it needs NPK. If I fail to access NPK now it means disaster and low productivity,” said Banda.
She was echoing the anxiety of countless farmers who rely on the subsidy for their livelihoods. This season, the programme is expected to reach slightly above one million people.
The on-going Fisp delays stand in stark contrast to the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government’s manifesto commitments and stand as a microcosm of how, admittedly, unprepared the Peter Mutharika administration was in tackling the multitude of challenges devastating the country’s most important economic sector.
The agriculture sector employs 60 percent of the nation’s workforce, accounts for 80 percent of its export earnings and contributes 30 percent to the nation’s gross domestic product.
Chapter Four of the DPP manifesto outlines a development agenda anchored on four pillars: agricultural productivity and commercialisation, industrialisation, urbanisation and decentralisation.
Under agricultural productivity, the DPP pledged to guarantee timely access to improved, affordable crop inputs by tackling supply chain and logistical bottlenecks.
Yet figures from the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development suggest progress remains slow.
As of January 10 2026, the cumulative Fisp redemption rate stood at about 44 percent, slightly lower than the 45 percent range that its predecessor Affordable Input Programme (AIP) achieved within a similar period early last year.
Data show that 924 032 bags of fertiliser—466 962 of NPK and 457 070 of Urea—had been accessed nationwide, representing less than half of the total allocation.
The previous seasons recorded redemption rates of 74 percent and 89 percent during comparable periods in 2023 and 2024 respectively, signalling how harder it has become to sustainably manage agricultural input subsidies.
Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development spokesperson Salome Gangire acknowledged the sluggish uptake, but insisted that government was intensifying efforts to accelerate distribution.
She said: “We have increased the distribution of Urea fertiliser since most crops have reached the stage for top dressing. However, there are some farmers whose crops are still young and require basal dressing fertiliser; hence, distributing NPK in some areas.
“The ministry is working tirelessly to ensure all 1.1 million targeted farmers access the subsidised inputs.”
However, she declined to explain the causes of the delays that have left majority of beneficiary farmers stranded at depots.
Farmers Union of Malawi (FUM) president Maness Nkhata said the union has no official data on the programme’s progress, unlike the previous years.
Based on reports from members, she said many farmers were still waiting to redeem their inputs, a situation that could depress yields if not urgently addressed.
Agricultural experts have sounded the alarm.
Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources agricultural economist Horace Phiri described the situation as worrying, warning that late fertiliser application could significantly dent this year’s agricultural output.
Joyce Nababi, an environmental chemistry lecturer at Mzuzu University, noted that delayed application in maize leads to irreversible yield losses due to poor early growth, reduced ear formation, inefficient nutrient uptake and compromised grain filling.
President Mutharika himself acknowledged the fertiliser shortage on October 20 last year, but assured that government was implementing emergency measures to stabilise supplies.
Under the reformed Fisp, the DPP government has promised to target poor smallholder farmers with land, capacity to farm and are organised clubs.
Beneficiaries are currently redeeming a 50kg bag of fertiliser at K10 000, down from K15 000 under the previous year’s programme, AIP.
The DPP government has also pledged to establish a fertiliser production plant by 2030 to reduce reliance on imports.
These ambitious pledges come against the backdrop of a recent study by Mwapata Institute, a local independent agriculture policy think-tank, which recommended sweeping reforms to deal with the declining maize yields.
The study titled ‘Improving maize productivity by addressing soil health issues through Malawi’s Affordable Inputs Programme’, found that integrating complementary soil fertility management interventions could improve crop output.
Previous studies have shown that about 40 percent of Malawi’s soils are degraded and have high acidity levels, reducing the effectiveness of subsidy schemes.
Despite persistent delivery challenges since its launch in 2015, 69 percent of Malawians perceive the subsidy programme as “very effective”, according to perception survey from the Institute of Public Opinion and Research.
