Abstract:
Rather than continue with the promotion of an agricultural
strategy developed independently of the smallholder community
the Government of Malawi has responded to the urgent demand
from farmers for access to fertiliser to counteract the soil
depletion which they see as their dominant constraint. A large
section of the smallholder community in Malawi cannot afford
intensifying inputs at commercial prices and so the Government
subsidised them to a level affordable by a majority of farmers.
A strategy was developed to provide redeemable coupons to
60% of smallholders. The result has been a sharp increase in
grain production and a corresponding decline in household food
insecurity.
Plutôt que de continuer avec la promotion d’une stratégie
agricole développée indépendamment de la communauté des
petits exploitants, le gouvernement du Malawi a répondu à la
demande pressante des agriculteurs pour l’accès aux engrais à
contrecarrer l’appauvrissement des sols qu’ils considèrent
comme leur contrainte dominante. Une grande partie de la
communauté des petits exploitants au Malawi ne peut pas se
permettre d’intensifier les intrants au prix du marché. Le
gouvernement les subventionne à un niveau abordable par une
majorité d’agriculteurs. Une stratégie a été élaborée pour fournir
de bons de réduction à 60% des petits exploitants. Le résultat a
été une forte augmentation de la production céréalière et une
baisse correspondante de l’insécurité alimentaire des ménages.
Language:
English
Date of publication:
2010
Country:
Region Focus:
Southern Africa
Collection:
RUFORUM Conferences and Workshops
Agris Subject Categories:
Agrovoc terms:
Additional keywords:
Licence conditions:
Open Access
Access restriction:
Form:
Printed resource
Publisher:
ISSN:
E_ISSN:
Edition:
Extent:
1527-1536
Notes:
"The 2010 RUFORUM Biennial Conference was the second in the series. The main objective of the Biennial conferences is to provide a platform for agricultural research for development stakeholders in Africa and beyond to actively exchange findings and experiences, while at the same time learning lessons towards improving performance of the agricultural sector and ultimately people’s livelihoods. The biennial conference is RUFORUM’s most comprehensive meeting for the diversity of stakeholers in agriculture. It is especially dedicated to graduate students and their supervisors, grantees in RUFORUM member universities and alumni. It is a platform for peer review, quality control, mentorship, networking and shared learning. This record contains an extended abstract accepted under the theme socio-economics".
