Two opposition parties, Malawi Congress Party (MCP) and United Democratic Front (UDF) have questioned the rationale behind President Joyce Banda’s intention to introduce parallel Fertilizer Input Subsidy Programme (FISP). Banda made the revelation during the cattle distribution exercise that took place in Zomba on Sunday that in the next growing season she will introduce a […]
Malawi President Joyce Banda has told the nation that in the next growing season she will introduce a parallel Fertilizer Subsidy Input Programme to benefit those that will not get from government funded programme. Banda made the revelation during the cattle distribution exercise that took place in Zomba on Sunday. The President said she is […]
Kalondolondo project has unearthed a syndicate by some agro-dealer companies who took part in the selling of hybrid seeds in the Fertilizer Subsidy program where Seed-co SC 403 also known as Kanyani and legume CG7 were not germinating with farmers from Mulanje district being the main culprit. The revelation was made on Friday during a […]
“We were bracing ourselves for another year of hunger” says Malita Mwalija. “We missed out on the government Farm Input Subsidy Program.” “We were now planning to go and work as laborers in farms nearby, just to earn money that can help us buy food”. Phalombe is one district in Malawi that had been hit […]
A 32 year old Martha Katanga, from Chikapa Village, Traditional Authority Govati in Mwanza district still has memories of last year’s Farm Input Subsidy Program (FISP) which are still fresh when she twisted her left arm during a fracas which occurred at Chidole Satellite Depot when she was trying to push herself through a crowd to […]
Police in Mzuzu have arrested a man believed to the master minder of a robbery of 29 bags of the government subsidized fertilizer worthy MK435,000 at Luvwere Admarc in Mzimba district in November 2012. Mzuzu Police Station spokesperson Sergeant Maurice Chapola said Police apprehended the suspect Kapezela Grispin Gondwe 36, Traditional Authority Mtwalo in Mzimba District […]
Member of Parliament for Thyolo Thava Lifred Nawena has hailed the impact of the subsidized fertilizer, saying there has been a marked improvement in the pattern of distribution and the availability of the commodity in the selling points. The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) parliamentarian said this in August House on Tuesday during the question and […]
Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Professor Peter Mwanza confirmed mistakes that were done when implementing the 2012/2013 Farm Subsidy Programme. The fertiliser subsidy programme, which was launched in 2005 to help boost Malawi’s food self-reliance capacity, offers fertiliser to poor farmers at a considerably lower rate than market value. While responding to the state […]
Main opposition Malawi Congress Party (MCP) president John Tembo on Monday threw away his prepared speech in response to the State of the Nation address delivered President Joyce Banda last Friday, which had attacks on the administration and avoided to directly attack the current administration. The only areas of note for Tembo, who is also […]
Member of Parliament for Balaka South and sole legislator for Malawi Forum for Unity and Development (Mafunde), George Nnesa, said President Joyce Banda’s administration will have to explain how it overspent on the farm input subsidy program (FISP). The Balaka South legislator told Capital FM radio that irregularities which have characterized this season’s FISP have affected the […]
The Kalondolondo Project has expressed satisfaction over the implementation of Farm Input Subsidy Program (FISP) for 2012 to 2013 season carried out in Mchinji district. Kalondolondo is a consortium of three organisation, Plan International, Action aid and Council for Non Governmental Organisation (CONGOMA) with funding from UKaid. Kalondolondo Project Manager Jephta Mwanza was speaking during […]
Former ruling United Democratic Front (UDF) says when Parliament resumes sitting this month in the capital Lilonwe, it will take to task government to explain why it overspent in the implementation of the 2012/13 farm input subsidized . According to Speaker of the National Assembly, the 43rd parliamentary session will begin on February 8 and […]
A court in Malawi’s southern district of Balaka has blamed government for lacking proper legislation that would be used as basis of convicting people who are suspected of trading in subsidised fertilizers. Second Grade Magistrate Maxwell Boaz of Balaka Magistrate Court said this when he was acquitting two suspects who were found in possession subsidized […]
Former finance minister Friday Jumbe has decried the high-level corruption in the country, describing Malawi as a failed state. Jumbe, who is heading New Labour Party sympathetic to governing People’s Party, noted on Friday that graft in Malawi is worsening. “Malawi is a failed state because of corruption. Economy is in reverse. There is no proper order […]
Economic Planning Minister Goodall Gondwe, appointed recently by President Banda to help fix a sputtering economy, has sought to justify his decision in the 2004/2005 fertilizer subsidy deal where it is alleged that he meddled in the award of a contract to a Saudi Arabian company. Gondwe was found by the country’s Anti-Corruption Bureau to […]
Some Farm Input Subsidy Programme beneficiaries in Chiradzulu District have implicated some police officers at Chiradzulu Police Station of corrupt practices during the sale of fertilizer. At various fertilizer selling depots local beneficiaries accuse some cops who are not detectives of buying a number of bags of fertilizers while disguising themselves in plain clothes. “They […]
Britain’s Department for International Development (DFID) has donated £6.35 million (MK3.3 billion) to the Government of Malawi (GoM) towards the seeds component of the Farm Input Subsidy Programme. The donation will enable the Government to provide affordable quality maize and legume seeds to 840,000 vulnerable households, out of a total of 1.544million targeted by the […]
Chairperson of the Agriculture and Natural resources Committee of Parliament David Luka has disclosed his committee will undertake a national wide inspection tour to unveil irregularities marring this year’s Farm Input Subsidy Programme (FISP) following emerging reports of fake coupons, theft and sand mixed fertilizer. Luka told Capital Radio his team will travel across the country to […]