In a national address on the AIP on Tuesday night, Chakwera hinted that the programme needs radical reforms to improve its efficiency and protect it from negligence, corruption, incompetence and wastage.

Among others, Chakwera said there is a need to ensure that there is better targeting of beneficiaries to distinguish those who have the capacity for the kind of food production that will be able to achieve food security, using cooperatives and farming clubs and ensuring that they graduate from the AIP to the Agricultural Commercialization (AGCOM) project.

“One proof that a new and more effective AIP is needed urgently is the fact that despite the successful distribution of subsided fertilizer to millions in 2020 and in 2021 there are still 3.8 million Malawians who are food insecure in 2022. We need to have a better solution for such citizens rather than condemning them to a life of dependency on a programme that is not suited for them,” said Chakwera.

Reacting to Chakwera’s speech, Economic Expert Dr. Betchani Tchereni said the AIP cannot be taken as a perpetual program as the government is spending a lot on it but has asked the President to take caution in implementing the reforms.

He said: “I’m quite aware about the political connotations that might come with its reforms that lead to some kind of a removal or reduction of the same [beneficiaries], it could come with political connotations which might not sound good for anyone for that matter so it needs to be taken with some caution consciously so that we cannot lose some of the people and always remember why do we go the subsidy way.’’

Farmers Union of Malawi Chief Executive Officer Jacob Nyirongo says they have been engaging the government to rethink the whole process of farm subsidies for quite a while and the idea to reform it is welcomed.

“The president is right. I think proposals have already been put forward, and it's just a question of looking back and considering those proposals that have been put forward already. We can't talk about reforming the programme quickly because we are late now; the season is on us. But I think looking at the next season, we have an opportunity now to start engaging and considering different options,” added Nyirongo.

In the 2022/2023 national budget the government allocated K109 billion for the AIP, a drop from K142 billion in the 2021/2022 budget where 3.7 million people benefitted from. The government is expected to spend about K188 billion for fertilizer in the current programme which is at least 72 % increase on the K109bn.