AIP fertiliser delays stir panic

 Delays in delivering Affordable Inputs Programme (AIP) fertiliser is causing panic among farmers with the start of the rainy season, Nation on Sunday has established.

Despite Minister of Agriculture Sam Kawale this week attributing the delays to challenges emanating from the devaluation of the Malawi kwacha, farmers we interviewed this week expressed deep frustrations as they queue in vain at fertiliser depots.

In an interview on Wednesday, Cecilia Maliko from Traditional Authority (T/A) Nthache in Mwanza District said she feels hopeless since the rainy season is in progress, yet she is yet to access the inputs.

“I am starting to lose hope and this breaks my heart,” lamented Maliko.

The single mother to a one-year-old baby girl said if they cannot get the fertiliser now it would be rendered useless if delivered later.

At the time of the interview, Maliko said less than five people only from the area had purchased the fertiliser on their own.

Senior Chief Nthache shared similar fears.

He said: “I know that my people are worried about this situation and we cannot do much other than wait for the government.”

Nthache said it bothers him to see the repeat of the challenges of the previous years in the programme.

Delays in delivering the inputs compelled Felistas Mangulenje from T/A Likoswe in Chiradzulu to rent out her maize garden at K45 000.

She used K40 000 to buy a bag maize at Nguludi Turn-off along the Robert Mugabe Highway. She does not remember how she spent the remaining K5 000.

“I was and still remain of the view that fertilisers will delay as has always been the case and that is what compelled me to rent out my maize garden,” she said.

Mangulenje hopes that she will “survive by God’s grace” after renting out her garden.

The frustrations and worries show the predicament that thousands of other AIP beneficiaries are facing as they are yet to access the subsidised inputs.

Other areas where Nation on Sunday established the delays are parts of Machinga, Monkey Bay, Rumphi, Mzuzu, Dedza, Mangochi and Kasungu where President Lazarus Chakwera launched the 2023/24 AIP on October 20 2023.

Chifuniro Mzumara from Rumphi on Wednesday cast doubts over timely delivery of the fertiliser in her area, citing impassable roads especially during rainy seasons while Cassim Pensulo from Mangochi expressed disappointment over the delays.

 Similarly, Miriam Masamba from Machinga, said: “Such delays also demotivate us as farmers who solely depend on the subsidy fertilisers.”

Kestern Kaumphawi, a Kasungu-based farmer also expressed frustrations over the delays.

 Our findings were also cemented by legislators from the particular districts.

The legislators include Esther Jolobala (Machinga Central), Victoria Kingstone (Mangochi Central), Bonnex Mwamlima (Mzuzu City), Joshua Malango (Dedza Central) and MacDowel Mkandawire (Rumphi Central) who demanded an explanation from Kawale on Tuesday.

But Kawale told Nation on Sunday that all beneficiaries would receive the fertilisers. He said government is doing everything to dispatch fertilisers to all respective areas.

Kawale also described as an anomaly, huge reductions experienced in some areas pertaining to the beneficiaries.

He said: “The ministry would like to assure you that all fertilisers will be delivered to all beneficiaries. For those group village heads that experienced huge reductions or had no beneficiaries at all, we will take care of that anomaly.”

The AIP, which succeeded the Farm Input Subsidy Programme implemented under the erstwhile governing Democratic Progressive Party, is a social facility that allows smallholder farmers that are resource constrained to access farm inputs at subsidised prices.

Timely delivery of the inputs gives beneficiaries a chance to prepare their gardens and plant early. However, in recent years, logistical challenges have marred the exercise, apart from others like network glitches and alleged corruption.

Malawi Agricultural Policy Advancement and Transformation Agenda (Mwapata) Institute chief executive officer William Chadza said in an interview that the AIP beneficiaries are justified to get worried about the delays.

“The big challenge is that the rainy season has already started and most inputs have to be imported into the country and distributed at the time when some areas will be hard to reach. The likely effects are increased,” he said.

As part of solutions to the AIP challenges, Chadza proposed streamlining procurement and distribution processes of the programme and that there is need to start exploring sourcing of fertilisers, including partnerships with international organisations, donor agencies and private entities to ensure a steady and reliable flow of inputs into the country.

Besides, he also proposed incentivising local production of fertiliser in the short to medium term and development of early warning systems for the programme to timely predict challenges likely to be faced and facilitate proactive decision making and risk mitigation.

However, the Public Affairs Committee (PAC), a quasi-religious group, is of the contrary view and has since joined calls for the programme to come to an end.

PAC chairperson Monsignor Patrick Thawale on Tuesday said the programme is a waste of public resources that can be channelled into other equally important sectors. He cited corruption as one of the key challenges that has marred implementation of the programme.

He said: “We share the view, however, that the poor must be supported to ensure that there is food security. But with the current economic situation, bold decisions have to be made to exit the programme noting it has been dented by corrupt practices.”

The position taken by PAC has been suggested before by numerous stakeholders in both the agriculture and economic sectors, who in various platforms including policy papers, have suggested for its exit on the basis that it does not serve its intended purpose, as annually, millions of farmers are still supported due to high-levels of hunger.

This is apart from corrupt practices characterising its implementation and numerous challenges that affect its execution.

But at the launch of the 2023/24 AIP in Kasungu, the President said the programme cannot be abandoned on the basis that there are some farmers who cannot afford commercial fertilisers and that these also need to ensure food security. Government allocated K109.8 billion for the 2023/24 AIP, which is benefiting 1.5 million households, down from 2.5 million in the previous year.