Beyond Technocratic Debates: The Significance and Transience of Political Incentives in the Malawi Farm Input Subsidy Programme (FISP)

Chinsinga, Blessings; Poulton, Colin

doi:10.1111/dpr.12079

Cited by 50 publications

(56 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…In 2008, only Malawi surpassed the 10 % share of public spending on rural development agreed to in this declaration. However, the explanation for the relatively high expenditure share in Malawi is principally due to the agricultural input subsidy programmes run in the country [31]. While Ghana and Mozambique were close to reaching the Maputo target, the share of government expenditure devoted to rural development was still considerably lower than in Malawi.…”

Section: Macro-level Conditionsmentioning

confidence: 97%

Drivers of rice production: evidence from five Sub-Saharan African countries

et al. 2015

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Background: In spite of considerable rice production gains over the past 50 years, Sub-Saharan Africa is becoming increasingly dependent on rice imports as demand is outpacing domestic supply. The serious economic and social strains caused by this have urged national leaders to address production deficits. The aim of this article is to analyse and discuss the drivers behind recent changes in rice production in Africa South of the Sahara, focusing on Ghana, Malawi, Nigeria, Tanzania and Mozambique. Considering the period 2002-2008, we model production performance and changes in production amongst 317 rice-growing households using multilevel and longitudinal data. We evaluate and discuss the role of three key processes: the role of commercial drivers, farm technology and macro-level conditions. Results:We show that until 2002, production was driven by a combination of the three key processes considered, while during the period 2002-2008, production increases were primarily associated with area expansion and commercial drivers. This suggests that production lately has been more driven by processes of extensification than intensification. We also note that in none of the periods considered, the share of the state budget allocated to agriculture had a significant effect on production and that recent developments do not give any obvious support for an Asianstyle state-driven Green Revolution in rice in Sub-Saharan Africa. Conclusions:The role of commercialization in explaining changes in production suggests that policies strengthening food staple markets in the sub-continent hold great potential for driving rice production in the near future. Due to the scarcity of available land, the possibilities of further growth in the rice sector are limited without an intensification of production. Hence, farmers also need to access new farm technology, and positive development of rice production would in turn contribute to an improvement of food security.

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Section: Macro-level Conditionsmentioning

confidence: 97%

Drivers of rice production: evidence from five Sub-Saharan African countries

et al. 2015

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“…In all three countries, maize remains a key staple food crop for both urban and rural dwellers, and thus is politically significant. The elevation of crops such as maize into a political food crop is predominant in Malawi and Zambia and presents itself as a form of social contract between the government and citizens (Banful 2011;Hanjra and Culas 2011;Mpesi and Muriaas 2012;Jayne and Rashid 2013;Chinsinga and Poulton 2014;Kato and Greeley 2016;Morgan et al 2019). The dominant political narrative is that adequate maize availability translates into food security.…”

Section: The Politics Of Maizementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Similarly, the narrative among citizens in Malawi that 'food security is maize availability' 5 leads political authorities to concentrate on promoting maize to resonate well with the electorate. It is evident, thus, that the these narrow subsidy programmes can frustrate efforts for crop diversification and climate change adaptation interventions (Chinsinga and Poulton 2014).…”

Section: The Politics Of Maizementioning

confidence: 99%

Neither sustainable nor inclusive: a political economy of agricultural policy and livelihoods in Malawi, Tanzania and Zambia

Mdee

Ofori

Chasukwa

et al. 2020

The Journal of Peasant Studies

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The food crisis of 2007/8, alongside rapid population growth, and the uncertainties of climate change propelled African agricultural transformation back into the development mainstream. New narratives of 'climate-smart agriculture' and 'sustainable intensification' underlie this contemporary transformation. We present a political economy analysis of agricultural policy and livelihoods in Malawi, Tanzania and Zambia, and use this to assess the challenge of achieving 'sustainable and inclusive intensification'. We find little evidence that agricultural institutions have the capacity to deliver sustainable intensification in agriculture, or that agricultural policy drives changes in agricultural livelihoods that will make them either more sustainable or inclusive.

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“…Of course, the lack of political commitment could be one reason behind this poor governance. Either because of an underestimation of extension's development impact or the desire to invest in more electorally profitable activities such as seed and fertilizer (Chinsinga & Poulton, 2014), the reality is that funding extension services and investing in performance measures are frequently not top priorities for decisionmakers in developing countries, which then results in poor governance.…”

Section: Capacity and Management: Extension Servicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Additionally, the difficulty of connecting extension input (cause) with agricultural productivity and outcomes (effect) also hinders the emergence of political support and funding commitment towards these services (Feder et al, 2001;Anderson & Feder, 2004). Instead, politicians looking for electorally profitable activities often invest in more tangible goods such as seeds and fertilizer (Anderson & Feder, 2004;Chinsinga & Poulton, 2014).…”

Section: Introduction and Review Of Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating Agricultural Extension and Advisory Services through a Governance Lens

Álvarez-Mingote

McNamara

2018

JIAEE

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Demand-driven extension services have been promoted as a potential mechanism to improve governance quality and lead to better-served farmers. In this paper, we evaluate i) the extent to which demand-driven elements are present in extension services in developing countries, and ii) whether governance problems persist and why. We accomplish so by performing a qualitative analysis of the Modernizing Extension and Advisory Services (MEAS) country assessments, and find that, despite the adoption of demand-driven features, extension services are not fully participatory, transparent, accountable, equitable and responsive to needed farmers. Note:We are grateful to all the authors of the Modernizing Extension and Advisory Services (MEAS) country assessments for their insightful contributions. We thank all the respondents and participants in these studies as well as Austen Moore and Matthew Winters for helpful comments on earlier versions of this manuscript.

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Beyond Technocratic Debates: The Significance and Transience of Political Incentives in the Malawi Farm Input Subsidy Programme (FISP)

Cited by 50 publications

References 27 publications

Drivers of rice production: evidence from five Sub-Saharan African countries

Drivers of rice production: evidence from five Sub-Saharan African countries

Neither sustainable nor inclusive: a political economy of agricultural policy and livelihoods in Malawi, Tanzania and Zambia

Evaluating Agricultural Extension and Advisory Services through a Governance Lens

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