SMART Aid boosts food production in Malawi through fertilizer subsidy

Jun 17th, 2009 9:05 PM EST
By Beth Adler

Since 2005/2006, the Malawian government has provided a fertiliser subsidy to smallholder farmers, a programme that is now supported by the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID). This subsidy provides vouchers to farmers to purchase fertiliser and seeds that enable them to produce a more robust crop. Like many African countries, Malawi has been prone to food shortages due to droughts and under-investment in agriculture. As recently as 2005, almost five million of Malawi’s 13 million people were in need of emergency food aid. The subsidy has made a substantial contribution to food security. In tandem with good rains and appropriate macroeconomic policies, it has enabled Malawi to produce a surplus of maize since 2007. In that year Malawi even donated maize to the World Food Programme and also sold some of its surplus in the region. While still a work in progress, there are early indications that the subsidy could also be fuelling other successes in Malawi, such as a decrease in the number of under fives who are severely underweight, and an increase in the number of meals per day people are eating.

-Beth Adler

TAGS: SMART Aid