Chakwera says Affordable Inputs Programme ‘huge success’ for Tonse govt
President Lazarus Chakwera has said the Affordable Inputs Programme (AIP) for the 2020/21 growing season which his government launched to replace Farm Input Subsidy Programme (Fisp), has been a success.
Fisp which was run by the previous regime was associated with a number of challenges, including fraud, corruption and logistical issues especially in hard-to-reach areas.
But Chakwera said the Tonse Alliance government’s flagship AIP to give all farming households in Malawi access to cheap fertilizer has been “a huge success.”
Speaking in a televised national broadcast on Sunday said on Tuesday this week, the Minister of Agriculture Lobin Lowe will present a report on how AIP has performed.
He said the report will include video footage of the maize fields across all regions.
“I hope you will make time to watch that report live on television,” he said.
However, Chakwera said his administration will not be complacent by allowing unscrupulous middlemen to exploit the AIP success “to impoverish the farmers who have done the hard work of ensuring that this year’s harvest is bigger than that of any year on record. “
To ensure that farmers are the primary beneficiaries of their produce, Chakwera said bhis government has ensured that the State-run Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (Admarc) has enough funding to buy maize from farmers directly and as soon as the maize moisture content is right.
“Additionally, I have instructed that markets should open early enough to facilitate this policy, and I do not want to hear that ADMARC officials are exploiting this policy to enrich themselves and defraud farmers.
“The same applies to buyers of tobacco at Auction Floors, where I am confident that farmers who succeed in maintaining crop quality will be rewarded by buyers with the offer of competitive prices.”
Initially sold as universal subsidy by the Tonse Alliance during the campaign, the initiative turned out to be a near five-fold expansion of Fisp that only targeted 900 000 farming families for less than K30 billion per year while AIP is covering 4.2 million households for K158.3 billion at a much lower redemption price.
Every smallholder farming household is entitled to a 50-kilogramme (kg) bag of NPK; a 50-kg bag of Urea; either five-kg of maize seed or seven-kg of sorghum or seven kg of rice seed, depending on the farmer’s preference.
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Lets see after harvest.
All these praises just because Minister ndi wachibale wa Chakwera. Taitulukira kale kuti pa Cabinet Reshuffle mukadzati Minister of Agriculture to remain tisadzadabwe. Koma zinthuzi zimakoma ndi kulandirana.
Yes M’busa wa bodza, fertiliser input is a huge sucess bit not for you, your Tonse partners or the poor farmers but for the suppliers who made billions from the contracts. Wake up Talk Talk M’busa wa Bodza Chakwera wake you kwacha!
Please make it universal next growing season as some of us can not afford the retail prices on the market and mind you we contribute to food security even though we are not accounted as small holder farmers.Inu mukudziwa kuti mafumu ndi achinyengo posankha anthu oti alandire. Amapatsana pa chibale or zibwenzi ife kutimana .
DPP was associated with fraud not only with FISP but everything they did including recruitment. We have seen this with the way CEOs like Magalasi and Directors Kuyeli and late Maxwell Mkumba were recruited. Fraud, fraud, fraud etc.
Do you also know that some people failed to redeem their inputs at the time when system was always down? Every time when they went back when the system was on, they were told: ” mwagula kale inu!”. Did you also know that large vendors went to Admarc depots and conived with staff and gave them thousands of IDs they collected from people at a small fee and redeemed thousands of tons? Are you also aware that some people’s names were removed without confirming with them and all these were deprived of this opportunity? Finally are you aware that in… Read more »
This is Consumption economics
Koma one year on tizingoti the previous regime, tikhalira kumva zimenezo. Mxiiiii.
Kudya katatu implemented.
It will be a success only after harvest.