Malawi's agricultural input subsidy: study of a Green Revolution-style strategy for food security

Development scholarship and policy have recently returned to endorsing a 'new' Green Revolution (NGR) in Africa for the promotion of food security and economic development. The attention received by such programmes as the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa and the Millennium Village Projects are some prominent examples of this. Meanwhile, the government of Malawi has been lauded internationally for having averted widespread hunger within its borders through a subsidy that provides discounted chemical fertilizers and improved seeds to smallholder farmers. Many view the increased use of chemical fertilizer in Malawi agriculture and the resultant rise in maize yields - described by such publications as the New York Times as the 'Malawi Miracle' - as evidence that the prescribed NGR is indeed a recipe for success. Based on household-level surveys from the Zomba District of southern Malawi, this paper argues that although this subsidy programme seems to have filled the national 'food gap' in Malawi, shortfalls continue at the household level because of unresolved production issues and household vulnerability. I argue that the problems of accessibility and effectiveness of the subsidy are symptomatic of the inequalities inherent in the current food system, as described in interviews with respondents. These weaknesses are characteristic of NGR-style food security strategies and while programmes can be adjusted, they will remain subject to the same systemic processes that allow some to prosper while others want.