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The impact of farm input subsidies on household welfare in Malawi

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  • Sibande, Lonester
  • Bailey, Alastair
  • Davidova, Sophia

Abstract

This paper analyzes the impact of a fertilizer subsidy program in Malawi on household food security and the total annual per capita consumption expenditure. The study uses the nationally representative two-wave Integrated Household Panel Survey (IHPS) data of 2010 and 2013. Fixed effect and correlated random effect quantile regression models are employed to estimate the conditional mean and heterogeneous effects of subsidized fertilizer. The study finds a positive effect of subsidized fertilizer on the availability of kilocalories per capita per day, the number of months of household food security, and the probability of a household being food secure over the whole year. The study also finds heterogeneous effects of the program with relatively higher impact on food secure households. However, the study finds no evidence of effects on annual per capita consumption expenditure. These results suggests that farm input subsidy programs could be beneficial for the improvement of food security, particularly of larger food crop producers, but such programs are less useful when the main policy objective is to decrease poverty.

Suggested Citation

  • Sibande, Lonester & Bailey, Alastair & Davidova, Sophia, 2015. "The impact of farm input subsidies on household welfare in Malawi," 2015 Conference, August 9-14, 2015, Milan, Italy 212830, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:iaae15:212830
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.212830
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    2. Chatura Sewwandi Wijetunga & Katsuhiro Saito, 2017. "Evaluating the Fertilizer Subsidy Reforms in the Rice Production Sector in Sri Lanka: A Simulation Analysis," Advances in Management and Applied Economics, SCIENPRESS Ltd, vol. 7(1), pages 1-3.
    3. Ricome, Aymeric & Barreiro-Hurle, Jesus & Sadibou Fall, Cheickh, 2024. "Government fertilizer subsidies, input use, and income: The case of Senegal," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    4. Tiberti, M. & Zezza, A. & Azzarri, C., 2018. "Livestock Ownership and Child Nutrition in Uganda: Evidence from a Panel Survey," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 277403, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    5. Chimaliro, Aubrey Victor, 2018. "Analysis of main determinants of soya bean price volatility in Malawi," Research Theses 334743, Collaborative Masters Program in Agricultural and Applied Economics.
    6. Araya Teka & Sung-Kyu Lee, 2020. "Do Agricultural Package Programs Improve the Welfare of Rural People? Evidence from Smallholder Farmers in Ethiopia," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-20, May.
    7. Tala H. Qtaishat & Mohammad S. El-Habbab & Dan P. Bumblauskas, 2019. "Welfare Economic Analysis of Lifting Water Subsidies for Banana Farms in Jordan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(18), pages 1-10, September.

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    Keywords

    Agricultural and Food Policy; Food Security and Poverty;

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