2016 Fisp pathetic, worst—House committee
The Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture and Irrigation has described implementation of this year’s Farm Input Subsidy Programme (Fisp) as “pathetic and the worst” since inception of the programme in 2005.
Committee chairperson Joseph Chidanti Malunga expressed the sentiments in a telephone interview yesterday.
He said: “It is very pathetic, bwana [boss]. And we don’t know. In fact, of all the years we have been implementing this programme, this year is a flop and it is pathetic. I don’t know how we can rectify problems rocking the programme. There are just so many problems.”
year is a flop
Malunga, who is Nsanje South West member of Parliament (Independent), said his committee has also received complaints that private sector players awarded contracts to supply the inputs to farmers, including in hard-to-reach areas, are not going there because roads are impassable following the onset of the rains.
He said the committee has since recommended that State produce trader Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (Admarc) be given the mandate based on the infrastructure it has nationwide.
Admarc alongside Smallholder Farmers Fertiliser Revolving Fund of Malawi (SFFRFM) is a public sector player in the revised Fisp which has seen the private sector taking up 60 percent of the distribution logistics.
On his part, Civil Society Agriculture Network (CisaNet) executive director Tamani Nkhono-Mvula expressed dismay that while the increased participation of the private sector was meant to improve efficiency in the delivery of the programme, things continue to go worse.
He said: “We all celebrated when we were told that there will be an increased participation of private sector, but if government doesn’t properly do its part everything flops. [But] my general impression is that there has not been any improvement this year as compared to last year in terms of timeliness of most crucial activities.”
This year, government reduced the number of beneficiaries’ of the programme from 1.5 million to 900 000 people.
In Kasungu, a village head said out of the over 20 identified beneficiaries, only four people received coupons.
In an earlier interview, Theresa Mpotachamba of Mwanzalamba Village Traditional Authority (T/A) Kalumo in Ntchisi also disclosed that only a few households have received coupons in the area where delivery of the inputs has also been erratic.
Former president of Malawi Bingu wa Mutharika introduced Fisp in 2005 to address perennial food insecurity in the country. n
