Social Protection or Humanitarian Assistance: Contested Input Subsidies and Climate Adaptation in Malawi

Haug, Ruth; Wold, Bjørn K.

doi:10.19088/1968-2017.155

Cited by 12 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…We would like to commend the Government for progress done so far, in particular the approval of the Seed Policy by Cabinet." There is more continuity than change in this rhetoric from the international donors who have remained critical to FISP despite evidence showing that the program is associated with a strong increase in productivity and total production of maize (Haug and Wold, 2017). The question is what the current reforms in Malawi's seed system and the "wobbly state of FISP" (Kasakura, 2018) amidst the donor pressure to close it down will mean for privatesector input providers and Malawian smallholders in the years to come.…”

Section: Public Policy and Private Business?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Governing Seeds in East Africa in the Face of Climate Change: Assessing Political and Social Outcomes

Westengen

Haug

Guthiga

et al. 2019

Front. Sustain. Food Syst.

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Climate change is already negatively affecting Sub Saharan African agriculture. One of the most effective ways to adapt on farm is to switch crop varieties. This technological change depends on the policies and institutions involved in governing the seed systems on which farmers rely for access to suitable seeds. Whilst the need for seed systems to adapt and become more resilient is indisputable, the question of how this is best achieved is debated. The dominant seed system development pathway promoted by international development actors is characterized by formalization and commercialization of the seed sector. In order to assess political and social outcomes of this development agenda, we compare maize seed system development in Ethiopia, Malawi and Tanzania, combining policy analysis with quantitative analysis of farmers' seed use. We show that while the development policies promoted by international donors have similar objectives in the three countries, national policies and the seed systems farmers use differ substantially. National policies are shaped by political and historical factors and established in an interplay between state institutions, international donors and private input suppliers. Drawing on a new livelihood dataset, we show that in all three countries the formalization agenda is most visible in maize seed systems, with 25, 61, and 58% of the maize farmers planting improved maize varieties in the study sites in Ethiopia, Malawi and Tanzania, respectively. The inroads of improved maize, and particularly hybrid maize, in farmers' seed systems reflects these seeds high profitability for private seed companies. The tenuous use of improved varieties in crops such as sorghum reflects the limitation of the private sector-based seed system development approach in other crops and illustrates the need for public research and governance. Comparison of households cultivating improved maize with households cultivating local maize reveals that the first group is significantly wealthier and more food secure than the latter. This suggests that better-off households are likely to benefit first from the commercial formalization agenda. We argue that climate-smart seed policies and seed system development strategies must be sensitive to differences between farming systems and different groups of farmers if they are to deliver socially fair outcomes.

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Section: Public Policy and Private Business?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Governing Seeds in East Africa in the Face of Climate Change: Assessing Political and Social Outcomes

Westengen

Haug

Guthiga

et al. 2019

Front. Sustain. Food Syst.

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“…The FGDs and KIIs confirmed that low profitability in relation to both crop production and the sale of milk is an important challenge to improving the income of smallholders in the six selected countries. In Malawi, to address the problem of low farm gate prices, the government has established systems of floor prices and input subsidies [32,33]. According to key informants, these measures have been somewhat helpful, but the subsidies are not reaching far and the farmers tend to sell their maize crop below the floor price to private traders, because they cannot afford to wait for the Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (ADMARC) to turn up in their village.…”

Section: Economic Factorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

From Policy Promises to Result through Innovation in African Agriculture?

Haug

Nchimbi‐Msolla

Murage

et al. 2021

World

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The problem addressed in this paper is the challenge of moving from formulating policy goals to achieving the promised results. The purpose is to assess the possible role of innovation in agriculture as a way of contributing towards achieving the Malabo Declaration commitments and the zero hunger Sustainable Development Goal 2 (SDG2) in six African countries. Since the SDGs are high on both international and many national agendas, there is a need to increase our knowledge of how to move beyond formulating goals. The approach includes both quantitative and qualitative data from a multisite research and development project. Moving from promises in relation to policy goals such as SDG2 and the Malabo Declaration to actions that make a difference at local level is a challenging task, and COVID-19 has added negatively to that challenge. Technological and institutional innovations exist that have the potential to improve the agricultural productivity, food security, and income levels of smallholder men and women farmers. However, innovation processes are hindered by barriers related to governmental, economic, knowledge-based, socio-cultural, and resource-based factors. To overcome these barriers, governance needs to go further than defining goals, and proceed to the next step of establishing effective implementation mechanisms that ensure the promised result.

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“…By promoting multisectoral programmes under the explicit aim of reducing poverty and vulnerability, incumbent governments utilize state resources to increase their popular support, by creating an image that they care for marginalized people. Therefore, political leaders are incentivized to formulate short‐term, mostly post‐disaster relief‐oriented programmes, to make their activities visible, rather than building long‐term resilience towards climate change (Abdulai, 2021; Haug & Wold, 2017; Tanner et al, 2019). There is a lack of political ownership for building a broader and coherent poverty reduction agenda in many developing countries, which contradicts the ‘ownership’ principle of the Paris Declaration (Hickey & Bukenya, 2020).…”

Section: What Are the Challenges In Mainstreaming Climate Adaptation Into Sp?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Therefore, political leaders are incentivized to formulate short-term, mostly post-disaster relief-oriented programmes, to make their activities visible, rather than building long-term resilience towards climate change (Abdulai, 2021;Haug & Wold, 2017;Tanner et al, 2019). There is a lack of political ownership for building a broader and coherent poverty reduction agenda in many developing countries, which contradicts the 'ownership' principle of the Paris Declaration (Hickey & Bukenya, 2020).…”

Section: What Are the Challenges In Mainstreaming Climate Adaptation ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Mainstreaming climate adaptation into social protection: The issues yet to be addressed

Kundo

Brueckner

Spencer

et al. 2021

J of Intl Development

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As the consequences of climate change become better understood, there is growing agreement among development practitioners and academics on the need for mainstreaming climate adaptation into social protection. This review paper assesses the progress in mainstreaming efforts, revealing that there has been considerable progress made to date. However, a number of critical issues relating to the challenges of such mainstreaming in the context of developing countries and the conceptual framework needed to assess the outcomes of such developmental programmes are yet to be addressed. These issues are examined in this paper.

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Social Protection or Humanitarian Assistance: Contested Input Subsidies and Climate Adaptation in Malawi

Cited by 12 publications

References 3 publications

Governing Seeds in East Africa in the Face of Climate Change: Assessing Political and Social Outcomes

Governing Seeds in East Africa in the Face of Climate Change: Assessing Political and Social Outcomes

From Policy Promises to Result through Innovation in African Agriculture?

Mainstreaming climate adaptation into social protection: The issues yet to be addressed

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