Document Abstract
Published:
2010
Seeds and subsidies: the political economy of input programmes in Malawi
An analysis of seeds and subsidised farm inputs in Malawi
The configuration of maize politics in Malawi has created a strong actor network, which include major donor aid agencies, which favours international commercial players and their genetic material in the seed sector over local producers, and local varieties. Notwithstanding the strong narrative about national food security or public good aid, the benefits are unevenly distributed, with most accruing to the elites in both national and donor led interventions. Malawi is an interesting case because of its experiences in recent years in which maize ‘has become a political crop on which depends the food security of the whole country’.
This paper provides a critical account of the cereal seed systems in Malawi both in a historical and contemporary context with particular reference to the three input support programmes implemented since the late 1990s to date. The main argument of this paper is that the centrality of the question of food security in the country’s electoral politics in a post liberalisation context has created a seed industry dominated by multinational seed companies, offering farmers a narrow range of products mainly hybrid maize, and in which alternative cereal seed systems such as millet and sorghum are at the verge of extinction.
This paper therefore demonstrates that policy processes are predominantly characterised by the clash of competing and conflicting interests and viewpoints rather than impartial, disinterested or objective search for correct solutions for policy issues. However, the voices and views of the dominant coalitions almost always shape the major policy directions.
The major recommendations for revitalising the seed industry include:
This paper provides a critical account of the cereal seed systems in Malawi both in a historical and contemporary context with particular reference to the three input support programmes implemented since the late 1990s to date. The main argument of this paper is that the centrality of the question of food security in the country’s electoral politics in a post liberalisation context has created a seed industry dominated by multinational seed companies, offering farmers a narrow range of products mainly hybrid maize, and in which alternative cereal seed systems such as millet and sorghum are at the verge of extinction.
This paper therefore demonstrates that policy processes are predominantly characterised by the clash of competing and conflicting interests and viewpoints rather than impartial, disinterested or objective search for correct solutions for policy issues. However, the voices and views of the dominant coalitions almost always shape the major policy directions.
The major recommendations for revitalising the seed industry include:
- improving the efficiency and implementation of regulatory frameworks
- enhancing public sector breeding and dissemination of improved varieties
- creating an enabling environment to stimulate local seed enterprises that can deliver products with the needs of the smallholder farmer in mind.
