By Deogratias Mmana
Some members of Parliament (MPs) have admitted that they are not in support of the Affordable Inputs Programme (AIP) but they say they cannot speak out loudly for fear of losing their parliamentary seats in the next elections.
The MPs have said AIP consumes a lot of budget allocations to district councils affecting other equally necessary services.
They argue that the implementation of AIP in Malawi is political, hence failing to achieve its intended objective.
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Chairperson for the Agriculture Committee of Parliament Sameer Suleman said there is a need to find a substitute for AIP but he added he could not stand in Parliament and speak bad about AIP.
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“If I stand in Parliament and tell the government to stop AIP, I will not get back to the House.
“But AIP is a mess. It is bringing corruption and affecting other operations of other sectors.
“AIP needs to go as soon as possible. We are not benefitting from AIP. People who were on this programme and were left out are crying for inputs. We have not helped them,” Suleman said.
Sulemani was among MPs who attended a meeting for parliamentary committees on agriculture, budget and finance on emerging issues related to resource governance and input to the agriculture budget for 2023-2024.
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The meeting was organised by the Civil Society Agriculture Network (Cisanet) on Thursday in Lilongwe. Another member of the agriculture committee, Ulemu Chilapondwa, said AIP is surviving because of politics.
“The problem is us politicians. We could agree to phase out AIP and come up with a new direction like improving farmers’ cooperatives.
“As a country, it is not proper to rely on a subsistence farmer who uses a hoe to eradicate hunger. We have missed the point,” Chilapondwa said.
He said the country can do better through mega farms which he said need support. A member of the Budget and Finance Committee Ralph Jooma also hit at AIP.
“AIP is a tool for hunger reduction. We consider it that way, if it is properly applied, fairly distributed and properly implemented.
“But the implementation of it does not go well. That is why every year we have a lot of people going hungry and that is why many people are pushing for its complete withdrawal,” Jooma said.
He added that since many people are used to it, the programme should be done in a staggered way so that the people do not feel the shock at once.
Chairperson of the Parliamentary Committee on Health Mathews Ngwale said AIP has degenerated into a political tool “AIP is dominating budgets across the country.
Government tried to reduce the allocations but AIP is political too and important especially where we are going (2025 elections).
“Though not a bad concept, it needs to be modified for it to be meaningful. Cooperative farming would be the way forward,” Ngwale said.
During the meeting, Cisanet consultant Goodwin Nyirongo made a presentation on district agriculture budget analysis and tracking which showed that AIP is suffocating implementation of other equally deserving programmes within the sector.
For example, in the 2023-2024 AIP budget for Lilongwe, AIP grabbed 55 percent (K23 million) of K42 million of the total Other Recurrent Transactions (ORT) provision for crops.
The analysis says activities such as crop production estimates, production of horticultural crops and promotion of post-harvest losses were affected.
The report showed that most district councils get ORT below 10 percent contrary to the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) requirement.
Another member of the Budget and Finance Committee Ken Kandodo said while it is true that the agriculture sector receives inadequate funding, it should be appreciated that it has to compete with other sectors which are also providing key services like health and education.
Kandodo also said decentralisation policy is not working as desired because a lot of funds remain at the central government instead of district councils.
to come up with a
modality of what can
replace AIP
“So it creates problems for district commissioners to balance their books. Most councils are struggling to raise their own resources,” Kandodo said.
Cisanet board chairperson Herbert Chagona said the meeting was organised to ask the MPs to lobby for more funding to the agriculture sector.
He said the country has good policies which do not talk to the budget, hence chaos in various sectors.
“We have also seen that much of the budget is going to AIP. We need to come up with a modality of what can replace AIP. That is the way we should move as a country,” Chagona said.
This year, the government allocated K117 billion for AIP targeting 1.5 million beneficiaries.
The total budget for agriculture is K455.10 billion representing 3.0 percent of GDP and 11.8 percent of the total budget.
