By Mercy Matonga:
Since 2015, Malawi has spent more than K1 trillion subsiding fertiliser and maize seed for smallholder farmers, a predominant section in Malawi’s agricultural production.
Yet, the same taxpayers and development partners that fund the programme have also poured in hundreds of billions of kwacha in that period buying food, largely for the same people that received cheap fertiliser and seeds for them to produce food for the country but they failed.
For example, in the 2024-25 national budget, the government allocated K161.28 billion for the subsidy programme. But during the 2025 lean season, Malawi had 5.7 million – over 20 percent of the population – in need of emergency food handouts owing to crop failure due to climate conditions and poor agricultural practices by the farmers themselves.
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Even as various administrations keep pushing on with this programme, productivity remains low to match the colossal figures invested in it, records show.
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A report from the Ministry of Agriculture on the performance of the sector from 2023 to 2025 shows that Malawi failed to produce even half of its maize projections despite a total K367 billion investment from government and development partners in various agricultural activities.
Out of the 4 tonnes projection per hectare, only 1.5 tonnes was produced, translating to 2.8 million metric tonnes of maize, the report says.
The document further says although Malawi met the Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Programme threshold of a 10 percent of the national budget allocation to agriculture, growth declined.
The World Bank Malawi Economic Report (2026) corroborates these findings.
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It states that despite absorbing more than 10 percent of the national budget, the agricultural sector continues to underperform.
Maize yields average 2.1 metric tonnes per hectare, far below both the 2024 National Adaptation Plan target of 4 metric tonnes per hectare and the estimated potential level of 10 metric tonnes per hectare.
“Spending on fertiliser subsidies is substantial and has risen since 2005, but it has not led to stable gains in national maize harvests,” reads the report.
In recent years, the government has turned to mega farms to shore up not just food security but also Malawi’s agro-based exports. But, as the World Bank observes, mega farms have not increased national output due to design flaws, funding gaps, governance challenges and poor loan recovery.
Concerns have been raised over corruption and politicisation of subsidy programme. What was designed as a lifeline for smallholder farmers, and for the country eventually, has degenerated into a political tool used to gain favour, reward loyalty and source political financing.
The question remains whether Malawi should just abandon the subsidy programme altogether.
At a recent meeting with the Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture, Chief Executive Officer for National Smallholder Farmers’ Association of Malawi (Nasfam) Betty Chinyamunyamu urged the government to consider reforms, a call that has appeared countless times since the programme started.
She called for investment in various farming activities that would bolster production of other crops, alongside maize.
She said the funds that are locked in subsidized maize production and maize purchases for the hungry crowd out irrigation, research and extension spending.
“Without reform, productivity stagnation will continue,” Chinyamunyamu said.
Agriculture expert Tamani Nkhono Mvula said however its failures, the programme is necessary.
“On the overall, if we look at subsidies in general, I may say they are necessary. The cost of production is very high, and there is a need to subsidize production,” he told Malawi News
He said the output has much lower than expected in the programme due to management problem.
He also contested arguments for farmers that get the support to graduate out of the programme to independence.
“If you look at the people that have been targeted, and also the amount of inputs they have been given, it is mainly supporting subsistence farming, and we should not expect people to graduate because what we are doing is just helping them to have something.
“If we need graduation, we need to categorize the farmers. They might be in cooperatives and should be given a different type of subsidy, and maybe some might graduate,” he said.
The fundamental challenge in the programme, he said, is in the design.
“There is a need to look into the design,” he said.
Malawi started implementing the subsidy programme in 2005 aiming to enhance food security through supporting poor smallholder farmers.
