{"id":396,"date":"2008-01-01T11:11:09","date_gmt":"2008-01-01T11:11:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/?p=396"},"modified":"2016-03-01T15:40:44","modified_gmt":"2016-03-01T15:40:44","slug":"planting-ideas-how-agricultural-subsidies-are-working-in-malawi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/planting-ideas-how-agricultural-subsidies-are-working-in-malawi\/","title":{"rendered":"Planting Ideas: How agricultural subsidies are working in Malawi"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"malawi,<\/a><\/p>\n

Malawi is the most densely populated country in southern Africa. Without affordable fertiliser and other inputs, small farmers have struggled to grow enough food from over-cultivated soils. But after successive food crises, the government of Malawi acted against the advice of donors and many international experts to introduce a home-grown subsidy programme for smallholder farmers.<\/p>\n

In this balanced and timely study, Blessings Chinsinga and Aoiffe O’Brien\u00a0examine how agricultural subsidies can be made to work for rural populations.\u00a0Despite fears of a return to the pervasive corruption, cronyism and waste\u00a0which led to the abolition of agricultural subsidies throughout much of sub-Saharan\u00a0Africa in the 1980s and 1990s, Malawi has set an important precedent.<\/p>\n

The authors argue – plainly, and without jargon – that it is possible to design\u00a0an effective and efficient subsidy for small farmers. While more remains to\u00a0be done, Malawi’s innovative voucher-based programme has brought bumper\u00a0maize harvests and stable prices. Many more rural communities, in Africa and\u00a0across the developing world, could benefit if the lessons of this study are taken\u00a0up by governments, donors and policy makers.<\/p>\n

\"Download<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Malawi is the most densely populated country in southern Africa. Without affordable fertiliser and other inputs, small farmers have struggled to grow enough food from over-cultivated soils. But after successive food crises, the government of Malawi acted against the advice of donors and many international experts to introduce a home-grown subsidy programme for smallholder farmers. In this balanced and timely study, Blessings Chinsinga and Aoiffe O’Brien\u00a0examine how agricultural subsidies can be made to work for rural populations.\u00a0Despite fears of a return to the pervasive corruption, cronyism and waste\u00a0which led to the abolition of agricultural subsidies throughout much of sub-Saharan\u00a0Africa in the 1980s and 1990s, Malawi has set an important precedent. The authors argue – plainly, and without jargon – that it is possible to design\u00a0an effective and efficient subsidy for small farmers. While more remains to\u00a0be done, Malawi’s innovative voucher-based programme has brought bumper\u00a0maize harvests and stable prices. Many more rural communities, in Africa and\u00a0across the developing world, could benefit if the lessons of this study are taken\u00a0up by governments, donors and policy makers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":398,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[28,214,256,213,57,27,257],"class_list":["post-396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-papers","tag-agriculture-in-publications","tag-blessings-chinsinga","tag-fertiliser","tag-fertiliser-subsidy","tag-malawi","tag-politics-in-publications","tag-subisidies"],"aioseo_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\nHow agricultural subsidies are working in Malawi<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The authors argue - plainly, and without jargon - that it is possible to design an effective and efficient subsidy for small farmers. 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