Maravi

(NYASATIMES) Farm input subsidy programme flops - Report

Farm input subsidy programme flops - Report
By Alinafe Mtawanga
02 December, 2008 09:50:00

An unofficial survey report by Malawi’s Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources reveals that this year’s Farm Input Subsidy Programme is the worst than the previous years.

The survey was undertaken to assess the progress of the programme this year amid reports of rampant corruption and theft, and the general food situation in the country.

One of the members of the committee told Nyasa Times that in all the districts they visited it was discovered that this year’s programme was marred with a lot of irregularities and left a lot to be desired.

He said in almost all areas, people complained that the figures of recipients were too small to make any impact.

“Our members were divided into teams that conducted the survey in all districts. The findings were the same in all districts,” said the committee member (name withheld), adding that in the next few weeks they will be officially releasing the findings of the survey.

At one of its meetings in group village headman Liwonde’s area in Machinga, village headman Venansiyo said chiefs in the area were under intense pressure from villagers who are accusing them of corruption when in fact the problems arise from planning flaws on the part of the responsible authorities.

“It’s unfortunate that coupons being allocated are not enough to meet the expectations of the poor people in my village, as a result I am being accused of corruption,” complained chief Venansiyo.

According to the member of the Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources, other meetings revealed that the programme is abused by politicians as in some areas only members of President Ngwazi Bingu wa Mutharika’s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) are benefiting from the initiative.

For instance, Member of Parliament for Machinga Central Ellock Maotcha Banda is on record to have written Ministry of Agriculture officials and the District Commissioner, Lawrence Makonokaya, instructing them to give coupons to people whose names he had submitted.

Maotcha’s official letter from the ministry of trade and industry where he is deputy minister is a clear case of abuse of office, according to the member of the Parliamentary committee.

One constituent, Yasini Makatoni was allegedly shot in the neck when some disgruntled constituents confronted Maotcha over the preferential directive. The matter is in court.

In Balaka, the survey also found out that the programme was marred by a number of problems ranging from political interference to inadequate number of coupons.

According to a report by the Balaka District Agriculture office the exercise started on September 23, 2008 and was scheduled to end on September 27, 2008 but said due to boycotts of some few villages, the exercise went beyond deadline.

“Some boycotts occurred because villagers felt the figures were too small and that it would be difficult to identify the poorest among the poor. Some did it because they had heard on MBC and TVM that more people would benefit this year than last year,” reads part of the report.

The report further says, adding all targeted beneficiaries for all input packages, the total number of targeted beneficiaries for the 2008/2009; only 71% total farm families are bound to benefit from the programme as compared to last year when 91 % of the total farming families benefited.

“The district has recorded an insignificant increase (1%), in the allocation of NPK, UREA and maize seed coupons over last year i.e.40, 866 and 40,433 coupons respectively for each of the input types under the maize package.

“In real terms, the district has gone down because the number of farm families has gone up this year by 5% i.e.95, 898 in 2008/08 against 100, 216 in 2008/09,” emphasizes the report, presented to the Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources.

In the report, Balaka agricultural officials criticize some radio messages on the subsidy programme describing them as misleading, and that they gave an impression that a lot of people would benefit this year.

“Efforts should be made to streamline messages with other stakeholders in the programme so that there is no conflict of understanding.” says the report.

MBC and TVM carried a campaign aimed at gaining political mileage for the Bingu administration that portrayed this year’s subsidy programme as better.

The campaign painted a picture of more beneficiaries accessing the programme this year, a development disputed by the Balaka agricultural official.

President Mutharika is on record to maintaining that the programme is running on smoothly.

Labels: FARM SUBSIDIES

posted by MrK @ 3:34 AM