MCP to phase out input subsidy

Malawi Congress Party (MCP) says the government’s programme of providing cheaper farm inputs to smallholder farmers has not produced results and, if voted into power in 2014, the country’s oldest political party plans to gradually phase it out.

MCP president the Reverend Lazarus Chakwera made the remarks on Saturday after registering to vote at Malembo Primary School in Lilongwe North West Constituency where he is also expected to contest as a member of Parliament (MP).

En route to the registration centre, Chakwera made several stops to address sizeable crowds and toured a community irrigation scheme.

He said an MCP administration would develop partnerships with the private sector to start manufacturing fertiliser locally which would make the farm inputs affordable to many Malawians.

But Chakwera did not commit to an immediate stop to the current Farm Input Subsidy Programme (Fisp) which benefits 1.4 million poor farmers who buy a 50 kilogramme bag of fertiliser at K500 even after admitting that it was no longer effective.

Chakwera’s hint at phasing out Fisp is contrary to the 2009 MCP manifesto in which the party promised to introduce a universal subsidy programme.

In the current financial year, government is expected to spend K60 billion to procure and distribute maize seed, fertiliser and pesticides to farmers.

“We were supposed to graduate from the current programme, it was not supposed to last forever. It is not producing results. The price of inputs should have been reduced to a level that everyone could afford. That’s why the MCP dream is that the business community should open fertiliser processing plants in Malawi,” Chakwera said.

Chakwera, who took over from veteran politician John Tembo as MCP leader, also told journalists that he would take part in primary elections in the constituency to avoid dividing the party through imposition of candidates.

He asked the party’s supporters to accept results of the primaries and support each other for MCP to sweep seats in Parliament.

Several commentators, including some opposition parties and academics, have asked government to devise an exit-strategy for Fisp, saying it is not sustainable in the long run.

Some have argued that despite helping the country attain back-to-back years of surplus maize at national level, Fisp’s shortfalls include failure among its beneficiaries to graduate to independence. Each year, almost the same beneficiaries are given coupons to buy subsidised fertiliser and seed.