A 100 percent redemption rate was achieved in Ulongwe Expansion Planning Area (EPA) in Balaka under the second phase of the Sustainable Agriculture Production Programme (SAPP II) initiative as a total of 2025 targeted beneficiaries accessed fertilisers and free seeds.
Agriculture Extension Development Officer (AEDO) for Ulongwe Agriculture office in Balaka district under Machinga Agriculture Development Division (ADD) Jackson Juwawo, confirmed the development.
In Ulongwe EPA, out of 9561 registered as total targeted beneficiaries, all the 2025 recipients from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) supported programme redeemed their inputs.
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Even in the wake of the dry spells which hit the district, Juwawo is optimistic that the SAPP II intervention will have still have a positive impact on production.
“As Ulongwe yes we have been affected by dry spells but not as much as up to permanent wilting, it was just a mild impact on dry spells so the programme will still have positive impact.
He attributed the mobile marketing system as a game-changer behind the programme’s success noting that even vulnerable populations got their inputs.
“This programme which we call SAPP-IFAD FISP, it has a success story in the sense that most of the targeted farmers have at once accessed the inputs, if we compare to the normal one where the coming of inputs at the market station it takes longer time to come at the market.
“But this one we were using as a mobile marketing system where we’re first redeeming then the fertilizer comes later; so all the farmers collected the inputs at once”. he explained
He further indicated there were no distribution challenges as there were no vendors or middlemen involved in the programme.
Bwaila constituency was targeted as one of the areas in Balaka district for the IFAD funded project aimed at boosting Malawi Government initiatives such as the Farm Input Subsidy Programme (FISP).
The project falls under the Response to Emergencies and Disasters (RED) component catering mostly for emergencies and disasters and reducing food insecurity for affected populations and restoring their livelihoods.
Besides the dry spells, Balaka also had an outbreak of fall armyworms in most fields and the Agriculture extension development officer feared the attack is more severe with potential to reduce the crop yield which farmers are expected to harvest.
Juwawo outlined some of the lessons learnt from the programme.
“If it is to continue we need to plan very well so that we may distribute the inputs before the rains come. This year, we received rains much earlier than last year; so by the time the farmer accessed the inputs through this programme, most of the farmers had already planted their maize on 11th November yet the inputs we started redeeming on 27th December”
Mustafa Joni a beneficiary from Kusigala Village, Group Village Mpulula in Traditional Authority Nsamala concurred that the free seeds came a bit late as he had already used his own but for the fertilizer he redeemed two bags one for Urea, and NPK at K10, 000 each.
He expects a good harvest from his two acres maize field which he said would be enough to make him food sufficient at household level.
Before the support from SAPP II, he used to harvest a maximum of 10 bags but this time around he expects 35 bags as he used his own recycled seed.
“Previously using inputs bought on my own without any support on my two acres land, I used to harvest not less than 15 bags; but after benefiting from the subsidized farm inputs, I expect not less than 35 bags owing to the dry spells which we experienced.
“We were drilled by extension staff on the need to practice proper farming methods and conservation agriculture which helps in soil retention”
IFAD pumped in $3 million to support the FISP Programme whereby 2200 metric tonnes of fertilizers consisting 1100 metric tonnes of NPK and 1100 metric tonnes of Urea was procured.