Farm input distribution to strengthen food security

The Malawian government on Sunday launched a US $23 million farm input subsidy programme to strengthen food security. The Extended Targeted Input Programme (ETIP), formerly known as the starter-pack programme, is a Malawian government initiative to ensure that poor households have access to free seed and fertiliser. Following two good harvests, donor pressure caused the starter-pack programme to be scaled down, under the Targeted Input Programme (TIP), to packs for the poorest smallholders in 2000/01. However, in the next season Malawi was once again facing a food crisis and the TIP was scaled up to cover 2.8 million beneficiaries in the 2002/03 season, becoming the ETIP. "I would like to advise those who will be distributing the starter packs to do so without favouring some people. I will not allow this to happen," warned President Bingu wa Mutharika during the launch of the programme in Thyolo district in the country's Southern region. Mutharika was responding to claims that households aligned to the ruling United Democratic Front Party had benefited from the programme in previous years. He added that this year's starter pack had been increased from 10 kg to 31 kg, including 5 kg of seed and 26 kg of fertilizer, while the seed for planting maize and beans should cover at least half a hectare of land. In 2002/03 ETIP contributed an estimated 353,000 mt of maize to national production. The government is hoping for a similar boost to next season's harvest. The Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation and Food Security, Chakufwa Chihana, said Malawi had produced 1.6 million mt of maize last year, while demand stood at 2.7 million mt. It was expecting to buy 70,000 mt of maize this year to feed about 1.5 million people. The UK-based development agency, Oxfam, welcomed the launch of ETIP in the Thyolo district with caution. Oxfam's Food Security officer for Thyolo and Mulanje, George Chinseu, questioned whether the programme would target the poor, considering that registration for the programme was being conducted by the communities. The programme would be difficult to monitor, he said, adding that some people had sold starter packs before, only to complain about food shortage later on. An estimated 65 percent of the country's 12 million people live below the poverty line, the vast majority of whom are rural dwellers.