The Effect of Farm Input Subsidy Program on Food Poverty Dynamics in Malawi

Griffin Mulula,Hannah M Dunga,Steven Henry Dunga

doi:10.22610/jebs.v9i2.1656

Griffin Mulula, Hannah M Dunga + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.22610/jebs.v9i2.1656

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Abstract

As part of poverty alleviation and reduction of food insecurity in Malawi, the Malawi Government launched the Farm Input Subsidy Programme (FISP) in 2005/06. The programme is a continuation and expansion of previous subsidy programmes which were designed for the same purpose as the current subsidy programme. Although evaluation studies show that FISP registered success in its first five years, there has been limited research analysing the effectiveness of the programme. This study purposed to investigate how the programme has contributed to food poverty transition during the period 2010 and 2013. The study adopts a Multinomial Logit Model and uses Integrated Household Panel Survey Data of 2010 and 2013 from national statistical office to measure food poverty dynamics between the two periods. Other variables which are expected to influence food poverty dynamics are also explored. Results show that FISP does not increase chances of moving out of food poverty. Rather, education greatly provides higher chances of moving out of food poverty. Between gender that have the same qualification, men have a greater probability of moving a household out of poverty. It was also found that household size has a negatively relationship with the probability of moving out of food poverty. The study recommends that government should strengthen the monitoring, evaluation and audit systems in order to make the FISP programme effective again.

Highlights

Food is one of the most basic needs for human survival and access to it is a basic human right
It is under the mentioned shortfalls that this study aims to fill this gap by finding out whether if the Farm Input Subsidy Program (FISP) program has significantly eradicated poverty
The results are interpreted as follows, Food poverty transition matrices: The food poverty transition matrices are statistics that describe the movement across the food poverty line

Summary

Introduction

Food is one of the most basic needs for human survival and access to it is a basic human right. A series of policy documents for Malawi, spanning from the Vision 2020 to the currently Malawi Growth Development Strategy II (MGDS) have been citing food insecurity as a major problem the country is facing. According to the MGDS, problems of food insecurity are traced to the low and stagnant yields in the agriculture sector, which contributes significantly to national and household food security (Government of Malawi, 2006). About 33 percent of the population had very low food security in the year 2010 (National Statistical Office, 2012) This implies that aside from the climatic factors, there are several challenges which smallholder farmers face which leads to the low stagnant yields. The main aim was to distribute coupons to poor households to purchase fertilizers and seeds at a subsidised price (Dorward & Chirwa, 2011)

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