Chakwera spells out a number of his Administration’s programmes on social protection efforts through AIP

* The first is the need to cushion the poorest and most vulnerable Malawians

* Against the harshest blows of the global and local economic thunderstorm that is raging in the short-term

* And the second is the need to lay a foundation for restructuring the economy for transformation in the long term

By Duncan Mlanjira

In his State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Friday, President Lazarus Chakwera announced progress of his efforts in laying a foundation for accomplishing this goal going forward, saying over the past two years, his Administration has sought to strike a balance between two equally important needs.

“The first is the need to cushion the poorest and most vulnerable Malawians against the harshest blows of the global and local economic thunderstorm that is raging in the short-term, and the second is the need to lay a foundation for restructuring the economy for transformation in the long term.

He indicated that the objective of the affordable inputs programme (AIP) is to protect the most vulnerable Malawians from food insecurity, highlighting that in 2020/2021, his Administration “supported 3.7 million smallholder farming households with 370,000 metric tonnes (MT) of fertilizer and 12,698MT of seeds — resulting in a 21% increase in maize production and a national surplus of over 1 millionMT”.

“And despite adverse weather conditions, such as the late and violent start of the rains during the 2021/2022 planting season, my Administration still managed to support 3.25 million smallholder farming households with 350,000MT of fertilizer and 13,318MT of seeds, resulting in the production of 3.716 million MT of maize and a national surplus of 387,197MT.

“As for the 2022/2023 planting season we are in, the AIP faced administrative challenges that resulted in the September deadline I had set for its rollout to be missed. But when this happened, I took decisive and corrective steps by appointing a new Minister of Agriculture and making personnel changes at the Ministry.

“Since then, the Ministry has been working around the clock to catch up. Although some farmers have struggled to access the commodity, we have made a lot of progress in catching up. As of three days ago, the Programme has achieved a redemption rate of 73.74%, just 1.5% shy of what it was at this point last year.

“The number of households that have already benefited so far stands at over 1.7 million, with access to about 182,425MT of fertilizer and over 9,000MT  of cereal seeds. By category, this includes 2,006,705 bags or 100,335MT of NPK, representing 81.12%, just 2% lower than it was at this time last year; 1,641,813 bags or 82,090MT of Urea, representing 66.27%, less than 1% lower than it was at this time last year; 1,786,326 packs or 8,931MT of maize seed, representing 72.21%, higher than the 70.38% rate achieved at the same time last year; and 125,440 packs of legume seed.

“In addition, the Programme is distributing livestock in some districts, and 9,482 goats have thus far been distributed. So even though there are still many vulnerable Malawians waiting to access the inputs they need, at the speed we are moving, I can assure them that help is on the way.

“However, Madam Speaker, in October I announced my intention to redesign the AIP to make it more targeted and efficient in the upcoming fiscal year. This is because after three years of implementation, it has become evident that the programme faces a number of challenges, including ineffective targeting of beneficiaries, high cost of farm inputs, and delayed procurement.

“As such, to address these challenges, the Programme is undergoing reforms to enhance its impact, which will be effected in the new fiscal year. The new design is necessary because despite the impact the programme has had on ensuring food security for millions, the Malawi Vulnerability Assessment Committee (MVAC) 2022 annual assessment estimated that over 3.8 million people in over 845,000 households may still not meet their food requirement during the 2022/23 consumption period, representing about 20% of the population who require humanitarian assistance for the 2022/23 lean season.

“Now, in order to cushion those in this category, my Administration is implementing the 2022/23 Lean Season Food Insecurity Response Programme. This programme, which was rolled out in November as a collaboration between the Department of Disaster Management Affairs (DoDMA) in my office and our humanitarian partners, is providing food assistance through two modalities, namely cash transfers and in-kind relief maize distribution.

“Since then, my Administration has released over 62,000MT of maize for distribution. Meanwhile, the Department of Disaster Management Affairs (DoDMA) has already drawn 55,000 Metric Tonnes, out of which 30,000MT has already been distributed to food insecure households nationwide.

“Furthermore, my Administration has provided funds amounting to K9 billion, out of which K7 billion has been used for cash transfers and supporting logistics for maize distribution while K2 billion has been used for emergency disaster response.”

He added that in collaboration with KFW, the World Bank, the European Union, the World Food Programme, UNICEF, Irish Aid, Save the Children and the Malawi Red Cross, the government “has mobilized about K41 billion for the implementation of cash transfers to targeted beneficiary households up to the end of the consumption season, which will target food-insecure households in twenty-six districts”.

“Madam Speaker, these are not mere claims, but actions we are taking on the ground to ensure that no Malawian is food insecure. Should you have any doubts, you can ask the Honourable members of this House, including those from the opposition benches, and because they are honest, they will tell you themselves of these things that we are doing in Thyolo, Chiradzulu, Mulanje, Blantyre, Nsanje, Chikwawa, Mzimba, Mzuzu, Zomba, Lilongwe, Machinga, and Mangochi.

“So long as the country continues to experience weather related disasters of different magnitude, my Administration will continue providing social protection support to the poorest and most vulnerable. So far, we have already seen strong winds, heavy rains, stormy rains, floods, hailstorms and lightening that have already affected 27 Councils across the country.

“As at 2nd February, 2023, over 19,000 households had been affected by weather related disasters with 57 deaths and 176 injuries recorded. The disasters have also caused damage to crop fields, roads and other public infrastructure.”

He also announced another social protection programme the government is implementing “to support the vulnerable” — the social cash transfer programme (SCTP), “which is targeting 292,000 ultra-poor households in all the 28 districts of the country to reduce their exposure to risks associated with climate change and other disasters”.

“Similarly, the climate smart enhanced public works programme (CSEPWP) is being implemented by my Administration with development partners to benefit 380,000 ultra-poor households across the country.

“However, what we have learnt in the rollout of these social protection programmes is that more coordination is needed to improve efficiency by removing duplications. This is why in this coming fiscal year, all social protection programmes will be under one Consolidated Safety Nets Programme that will enhance synergies by making sure that the three main safety nets, namely the SCTP, CSEPWP and AIP, are each more uniquely targeted, all of which will protect no less than 4 million of the poorest and most vulnerable Malawians against the worst effects of our economic winter.

“But if this Consolidated Safety Nets Programme is going to be sustainable, and if we are going to graduate people from it, we have to boost productivity in the wider economy and generate the revenue necessary to do so.

“And the seven Ministries where we have the greatest potential for boosting productivity and revenue are finance & economic affairs, agriculture, tourism, mining, industry & trade, foreign affairs, and natural resources & climate change.”

Wealth and Job Creation

Chakwera announced that his administration secured the approval and disbursement of US$88.3 million from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on the 12-month food shock window of the Rapid Credit Facility, and agreed on a programme monitoring with Executive Board involvement.

“We have also made good progress in our negotiations for a new Extended Credit Facility with the IMF, thanks to the hard work of our technocrats and the significant advocacy work of our development partners, particularly the United States of America, the United Kingdom, and the European Union.

“I am also pleased to report that we have made progress on the first 10 year implementation plan of MW2063 (MIP-1), moving us towards the goal of graduating the country to a low-middle-income economy by 2030. In particular, we have commenced the implementation of 80% of the MIP-1’s planned interventions, with a focus on tracking through the deployment of champions we have identified to drive implementation.

“Looking ahead, my Administration aims to expand the tax-base to increase revenue. In 2021, my Administration developed and launched the Domestic Revenue Mobilisation Strategy (DRMS), covering the period 2021-2026, whose overall goal is to increase revenue to GDP ratio by 5 percentage points by 2025/26 fiscal year, and this will be pursued aggressively this coming fiscal year to broaden the tax base and boost revenue.