68% AIP fertiliser yet to hit market

Ministry of Agriculture is yet to dispatch to the markets about 68 percent of fertiliser under Affordable Inputs Programme (AIP), casting doubt on meeting a presidential ultimatum that beneficiaries redeem inputs within 40 days.

Addressing the press in Lilongwe yesterday, Minister of Agticulture Sam Kawale said as of Wednesday, they had distributed 32.3 percent of the 150 000 metric tonnes (MT), the total required for the 2023/24 farming season.

When President Lazarus Chakwera launched this year’s AIP in Kasungu on October 20 he ordered the ministry to deliver the inputs within 40 days.

But halfway to the ultimatum, Kawale said they have distributed almost 37 000MT.

He said: “NPK fertiliser, 30 400MT which is 608 000 bags, is already on the market waiting for farmers to redeem.

“On part of Urea, 6 544MT which is 130 900 bags, has already been distributed to the villages and it’s available for farmers to buy.”

The minister further said 19 635MT was cleared from the suppliers after the Treasury issued payment. This stock, he explained, is set for distribution starting this week.

Meanwhile, Kawale attributed the slow fertiliser distribution to partial payments, stating that if all the funds were readily available they would have covered much ground.

Nonetheless, he expressed optimism that his ministry will meet the 40-day ultimatum as he was expecting “substantial funds” to be released soon.

Further, Kawale said technical hitches facing AIP such as the system tagging some constituencies as invalid or some villages being recorded in wrong constituencies.

He assured that the ministry officers have been reaching out to areas with such queries to address them.

Commenting on the distribution rate, Civil Society Agriculture Network board chairperson Herbert Chagona, in an interview yesterday, said the programme is lagging behind.

He said: “Let’s thank the heavens that the rains are not here yet. According to the Meteorological Department, the rains were expected to start in October and this is almost mid-November, and we are at 32 percent?

“We are far behind. If we were at 60 percent by now that would give us confidence.”

On partial funding assertions, Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs spokesperson Taurai Banda said they have been funding the programme at “100 percent”.

In the 2023/24 National Budget, Parliament approved K109 billion for this season’s  reformed AIP which has seen one million beneficiaries axed from the programme that seeks to provide smallholder farmers subsidised farm inputs.