The Ministry of Agriculture has allowed transporters to a limitless number of trucks as a contingency plan to ensure smooth distribution of farm inputs under the Affordable Inputs Program (AIP).

Minister Sam Kawale told Zodiak that currently they have registered over 1, 500 trucks to transport fertilizers to selling points, adding that through the Smallholder Farmers Fertilizer Revolving Fund of Malawi (SFFRFM), this far, 77 transporters have been procured. 

Kawale says anytime the transporters can add more trucks weighing from five metric tons to 40 metric tons during the AIP distribution period.

In a written response, Kawale says this is a contingency plan to ensure that distribution of farm inputs under the program faces no transportation glitches this season.

He discloses that at the same time, the ministry has procured transportation services from 77 transporters and registered their 1, 500 trucks to ferry fertilizer to retailing areas.

"This season, through SFFRFM, the ministry has procured transportation services from 77 transporters without limitation on the number of trucks per transporter. The trucks weigh from five metric tons to 40 metric tons. Over 1,500 trucks have been registered to transport fertilizers to retailing areas. Please note that these transporters can add more trucks anytime during the AIP distribution period," he said.

Agriculture expert Gresham Kamnyamata, while advising the government to make sure money is available to pay the transporters, says once implemented smoothly, the plan will aid farmers to buy the commodity on time.

This fiscal year the government has allocated K161 billion towards the 2024/25 AIP initiative targeting 1.1 million farmers.

In the 2022/2023 season, transport challenges forced the government to turn to parliamentarians to help in transporting farm inputs from warehouses to their areas under the AIP, an arrangement some observers suggested was prone to misappropriation of public funds.