Malawi, donors review agriculture performance

Malawi and its development partners this week held a joint review that assessed the agriculture sector and noted that its growth slightly declined to 0.8 percent in the 2023/24 fiscal year from 0.9 percent.

The development means that the sector once again failed to meet its six percent growth target.

During a joint sector review between the Malawi Government and development partners in Lilongwe on Tuesday, several challenges that continue to hinder growth of the sector were outlined.

A statement from the European Union press office yesterday described the decline in the sector’s growth as worrying considering that both government and development partners have been increasing financial investment in the sector.

Reads the statement in part: “This is very worrisome considering that the government has continued allocating the minimum 10 percent to the agriculture sector, and funding from both government and development partners have increased their allocations to the sector in the year under review.”

Minister of Agriculture Sam Kawale is quoted as having said government has made strides through investment in Affordable Inputs Programme (AIP), among other initiatives, to boost the sector.

The minister, who co-chaired the meeting with acting British High Commissioner Olympia Wereko-Brobby, however, bemoaned lack of coordination in piecemeal support to various other value chains which undermines concerted efforts.

He said: “There is urgent need for development partners and the government to collectively explore how best to create an enabling environment for agricultural production, support commercial farming, particularly in irrigation, investing in extension and crop insurance and focus on priority value chains.”

The statement also quoted Wereko-Brobby as having commended Malawi for implementing reforms in the AIP aimed at reducing costs.

However, she said it would be imperative for the government to pursue reforms in improving soil health to boost productivity.

Wereko-Brobby is further quoted in the statement as having emphasised on the need for support towards structured markets to boost trade and exports.

“There is continuous need to improve the enabling environment through economic management to improve forex availability, lower interest rates and free up lending to the private sector, which are all critical aspects to drive investment and performance of the agriculture sector,” she said.

The joint sector review was held under the theme ‘Establishing robust and productive agricultural systems with more focus on market value chains’.

The forum acts as one of the key processes to enhance mutual accountability and joint sector assessment of funding commitments and results as one of the principles in the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (Caadp) and Malabo agreements.

Under the Caadp framework, Malawi committed to allocating a 10 percent budget allocation to the agriculture sector and achieving a six percent annual growth rate.