Year Published
- 2008 (0)
- (-) Remove 2009 filter 2009
- (-) Remove 2010 filter 2010
- 2011 (0)
- 2012 (0)
- (-) Remove 2013 filter 2013
- 2014 (0)
- 2015 (3) Apply 2015 filter
- 2016 (2) Apply 2016 filter
- (-) Remove 2017 filter 2017
- 2018 (1) Apply 2018 filter
- (-) Remove 2019 filter 2019
- 2020 (0)
- 2021 (0)
Research Topics
Populations
Types of Research
- Data Analysis (0)
- (-) Remove Literature Review filter Literature Review
- Portfolio Review (0)
- Research Brief (4) Apply Research Brief filter
Geography
- East Africa Region and Selected Countries (3) Apply East Africa Region and Selected Countries filter
- Global (1) Apply Global filter
- South Asia Region and Selected Countries (1) Apply South Asia Region and Selected Countries filter
- Southern Africa Region and Selected Countries (3) Apply Southern Africa Region and Selected Countries filter
- Sub-Saharan Africa (2) Apply Sub-Saharan Africa filter
- West Africa Region and Selected Countries (4) Apply West Africa Region and Selected Countries filter
Dataset
- ASTI (0)
- FAOSTAT (7) Apply FAOSTAT filter
- Farmer First (0)
- LSMS & LSMS-ISA (0)
- Other Datasets (5) Apply Other Datasets filter
Current search
- (-) Remove Literature Review filter Literature Review
- (-) Remove 2017 filter 2017
- (-) Remove Countries/Governments filter Countries/Governments
- (-) Remove 2013 filter 2013
- (-) Remove 2010 filter 2010
- (-) Remove 2009 filter 2009
- (-) Remove 2019 filter 2019
Farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) use less fertilizer than farmers in any other region in the world. Low fertilizer use is one factor explaining the lag in agricultural productivity growth in Africa. A variety of market interventions to increase fertilizer use have been attempted over the years, with limited success. In the past several decades, Malawi has tried to alter that trend through a variety of innovative programs aimed at achieving national food security through targeted input subsidy programs. The best known of these programs is Malawi’s Starter Pack Programme. The Starter Pack Programme was amended twice into the Targeted Inputs Programme (TIP) and Expanded Targeted Inputs Programme (ETIP), and eventually replaced with the Agricultural Input Subsidy Programme (AISP). The efficiency and equity of the Starter Pack Programme and its successors have been the subject of debate. This report reviews the history, implementation, and perceived effectiveness of the various input subsidy schemes in the context of Malawi’s political economy. We find that AISP is credited with significantly increasing maize yields in Malawi. However, we also find that there are serious challenges facing the most recent input subsidy program, ranging from the rising cost of the subsidy to ongoing implementation struggles related to increased bureaucracy and corruption.