AIP has been a disappointment for many Malawians across the country: Nankhumwa

MALAWI: During his adjournment speech, Kondwani Nankhumwa, the leader of the opposition in Parliament and the DPP vice president for the Southern Region, told the August House Wednesday that despite allocating so much money to AIP over a 10-month period, the results have been so disappointing, creating a critical situation for food security at both the national and household levels.

"This growing season, AIP has been a disappointment for many Malawians across the country. There have been reports of numerous challenges, such as suppliers boycotting the program, ID card theft, network issues, and a lack of farm inputs such as UREA fertilizer on the market, " Nankhumwa.

In the 2021/2022 budget, K142 billion was allocated to the Agricultural Inputs Program (AIP), which targeted 3.5 million farming families, and the same amount was also allocated in the 2022/2023 budget, implying that AIP alone received K284 billion over a 10-month period.

As a result, Nankhumwa has invited all members of parliament and other stakeholders to conduct an honest cost-benefit analysis of AIP in its current form.

He said: "Despite the significant investment in AIP, experts predict looming hunger in the coming season. As a result, we will be able to determine whether it is worthwhile to spend such a large sum of money, as well as whether it is the best solution to our nation's food security challenges."

In his response, House Leader and Sports Minister Richard Chimwendo Banda stated that President Chakwera assured Malawians that AIP is undergoing reforms.

"Starting from this year, one of the reforms that the president is going to do is making sure that we improve on procurement processes that no more vendors, no more these companies that are disturbing AIP and we are going to buy straight from the manufacturers and then we are going to use farmers clubs,” Chimwendo said.