By Chisomo Phiri
The Government through the Ministry of Agriculture has announced that 1.5 million farmers will benefit from the Affordable Input Programme (AIP) in the upcoming farming season.
Briefing Journalists in Lilongwe on Tuesday, Minister of Agriculture Sam Kawale said President Dr. Lazarus Chakwera will launch the Programme on October 20, Kaluluma EPA in Kasungu.
The Minister disclosed that the government has maintained K15 000 as an amount which farmers will be paying to redeem a 50 kilogramme bag of fertiliser.
He further assured farmers in the country of the availability of fertiliser saying Treasury has already released some funds for its purchase and transportation.
Kawale also said that the Smallholder Farmers Fertiliser Revolving Fund of Malawi has readily available fertiliser.
He disclosed that currently, the government already distributed fertiliser to Dedza, Kasungu, Dowa, Nkhotakota, Mzimba, Rumphi
Chitipa, Mangochi and Neno among other districts.
Last growing season AIP faced network and transportation hiccups which forced some members of Parliament to be using personal resources to transport the farm inputs.
Malawi’s AIPcurrently combines an economic and a social objective, respectively aimed at increasing agricultural production; and assisting poor farming households.
