IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/idsxxx/v42y2011i4p59-68.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Seeds and Subsidies: The Political Economy of Input Programmes in Malawi

Author

Listed:
  • Blessings Chinsinga

Abstract

This article provides a critical account of the cereal seed systems in Malawi, in both a historical and contemporary context, with particular reference to the three input support programmes implemented since the late 1990s to date. 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, who offer 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. The interests of seed companies, donors and government have, for different reasons, thus coincided to create a seed industry which has a narrow product portfolio and distributes benefits to only a very small proportion of the population. The dominant players in Malawi's ‘Green Revolution Alliance’ shape the major policy directions, not always for the benefit of smallholder farmers.

Suggested Citation

  • Blessings Chinsinga, 2011. "Seeds and Subsidies: The Political Economy of Input Programmes in Malawi," IDS Bulletin, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 42(4), pages 59-68, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:idsxxx:v:42:y:2011:i:4:p:59-68
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/idsb.2011.42.issue-4
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Romy Santpoort, 2020. "The Drivers of Maize Area Expansion in Sub-Saharan Africa. How Policies to Boost Maize Production Overlook the Interests of Smallholder Farmers," Land, MDPI, vol. 9(3), pages 1-13, February.
    2. Bashir Jama & David Kimani & Rebbie Harawa & Abednego Kiwia Mavuthu & Gudeta W. Sileshi, 2017. "Maize yield response, nitrogen use efficiency and financial returns to fertilizer on smallholder farms in southern Africa," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 9(3), pages 577-593, June.
    3. Sitko, Nicholas J. & Chamberlin, Jordan & Cunguara, Benedito & Muyanga, Milu & Mangisoni, Julius, 2017. "A comparative political economic analysis of maize sector policies in eastern and southern Africa," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 243-255.
    4. Bezu, Sosina & Kassie, Girma T. & Shiferaw, Bekele & Ricker-Gilbert, Jacob, 2014. "Impact of Improved Maize Adoption on Welfare of Farm Households in Malawi: A Panel Data Analysis," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 120-131.
    5. Andrew Bowman, 2015. "Sovereignty, Risk and Biotechnology: Zambia's 2002 GM Controversy in Retrospect," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 46(6), pages 1369-1391, November.
    6. Aparajita Goyal & John Nash, 2017. "Reaping Richer Returns [Obtenir de meilleurs résultats]," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 25996.
    7. Rachel Bezner Kerr & Sera L. Young & Carrie Young & Marianne V. Santoso & Mufunanji Magalasi & Martin Entz & Esther Lupafya & Laifolo Dakishoni & Vicki Morrone & David Wolfe & Sieglinde S. Snapp, 2019. "Farming for change: developing a participatory curriculum on agroecology, nutrition, climate change and social equity in Malawi and Tanzania," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 36(3), pages 549-566, September.
    8. Roeland Hemsteede, 2024. "Power Relations in Malawi’s Social Cash Transfer Programme: The Flip Side of Domination," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 36(1), pages 194-215, February.
    9. Stephen Whitfield & Tim Benton & Martin Dallimer & Les Firbank & Guy Poppy & Susannah Sallu & Lindsay Stringer, 2015. "Sustainability spaces for complex agri-food systems," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 7(6), pages 1291-1297, December.
    10. Sally Brooks, 2014. "Enabling adaptation? Lessons from the new ‘Green Revolution’ in Malawi and Kenya," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 122(1), pages 15-26, January.
    11. Liverpool-Tasie, Lenis Saweda O. & Ogunleye,Wale Olatunji & Omonona,Bolarin Titus & Sanou,Awa & Liverpool-Tasie, Lenis Saweda O. & Ogunleye,Wale Olatunji & Omonona,Bolarin Titus & Sanou,Awa, 2015. "Is increasing inorganic fertilizer use in Sub-Saharan Africa a profitable proposition ? evidence from Nigeria," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7201, The World Bank.
    12. Graeub, Benjamin E. & Chappell, M. Jahi & Wittman, Hannah & Ledermann, Samuel & Kerr, Rachel Bezner & Gemmill-Herren, Barbara, 2016. "The State of Family Farms in the World," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 1-15.
    13. Viviana Meixner Vásquez & Regine Andersen, 2023. "Community seed banks: Instruments for food security or unsustainable endeavour? A case study of Mkombezi Community Seed Bank in Malawi," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 15(4), pages 1087-1108, August.
    14. Moses Mosonsieyiri Kansanga & Rachel Bezner Kerr & Esther Lupafya & Laifolo Dakishoni & Isaac Luginaah, 2024. "Can gender transformative agroecological interventions improve women’s autonomy?," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 41(3), pages 1161-1175, September.
    15. Kansanga, Moses Mosonsieyiri & Kangmennaang, Joseph & Bezner Kerr, Rachel & Lupafya, Esther & Dakishoni, Laifolo & Luginaah, Isaac, 2021. "Agroecology and household production diversity and dietary diversity: Evidence from a five-year agroecological intervention in rural Malawi," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 288(C).
    16. Kansanga, Moses Mosonsieyiri & Bezner Kerr, Rachel & Lupafya, Esther & Dakishoni, Laifolo & Luginaah, Isaac, 2021. "Does participatory farmer-to-farmer training improve the adoption of sustainable land management practices?," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    17. Matita, Mirriam & Chiwaula, Levison & Wadonda Chirwa, Ephraim & Mazalale, Jacob & Walls, Helen, 2022. "Subsidizing improved legume seeds for increased household dietary diversity: Evidence from Malawi’s Farm Input Subsidy Programme with implications for addressing malnutrition in all its forms," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    18. World Bank Group, "undated". "Africa's Pulse, No. 14, October 2016," World Bank Publications - Reports 25097, The World Bank Group.
    19. Aparajita Goyal & John Nash, 2016. "Reaping Richer Returns, Preliminary Overview," World Bank Publications - Reports 25782, The World Bank Group.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:idsxxx:v:42:y:2011:i:4:p:59-68. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0265-5012 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.