This year’s Affordable Inputs Programme (AIP) is facing significant funding challenges, with only K52 billion released out of the allocated K161.28 billion in the national budget.
This shortfall has resulted in the Ministry of Agriculture being unable to pay for fertiliser, which has impacted the programme’s overall effectiveness.
The ministry’s principal secretary (PS) for Technical Services, Medrina Mloza Banda, disclosed the severity of the issue, saying that the available fertiliser stock is inadequate, with only 53,997.5 metric tonnes (mt) available and 36,671.50mt tied up in collateral management.
This falls far short of the 104,000mt required for this year’s programme, which is planned to benefit 1.1 million farming households.
Mloza Banda made these comments during a meeting with the Agriculture Committee of Parliament over the weekend.
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She appealed to the committee for its intervention to urge the Treasury to release the necessary funds.
“Despite negotiations with the Treasury last month, I have only secured K52 billion. I still have not received the full support I need from the Treasury.
“The ministry has addressed some of last year’s challenges, but receiving only K52 billion out of the K161 billion allocated in the budget and approved by Parliament is concerning.
“I still have not settled the fertiliser addendum payment. I believe this is where the committee’s assistance is crucial in engaging the Treasury to release the necessary funds,” the PS said.
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She also informed the committee that Romanian company East Bridge is offering fertiliser that can be paid for at a later date and she asked the committee to visit Zambia, where the company’s fertiliser is located, to conduct due diligence and recommend to the ministry whether to proceed with the purchase.
Chairperson for the committee, Sameer Suleman, said that, with the current allocation, the programme’s objectives are at risk of not being met, jeopardising both the livelihoods of farmers and the country’s food security.
He said his committee was struggling to understand the situation with the programme, particularly as Parliament had already approved its budget earlier this year.
“We expected that the full amount should have been disbursed by now. To be told in November that the Treasury is not releasing funds for the AIP programme is very disappointing.
“The K52 billion is not even half of what was allocated. The programme is already delayed, and we don’t know if it will be successful,” Suleman said.
He added that they, as a committee, would engage the Ministry of Finance on the matter.
“The committee wants to meet with the minister himself to understand what is going on. When will the other funds be released? AIP needs to be prioritised,” Suleman said.
He also mentioned that the committee had heard Mloza Banda’s request regarding East Bridge’s fertiliser and that it would visit Zambia to conduct due diligence and verify whether the fertiliser is, indeed, available.
When contacted, Secretary to the Treasury Betchani Tchereni confirmed that he would be meeting with the Ministry of Agriculture’s PS and the Chief Executive Officer of the Smallholder Farmers Fertiliser Revolving Fund of Malawi, Richard Chikunkhuzeni, today to discuss the issue.
