MALAWI: PROGRESSING TOWARD FOOD SECURITY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 LILONGWE 000454 SIPDIS LONDON FOR AF WATCHER PETER LORD E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: EAGR EAID KHIV MI SUBJECT: MALAWI: PROGRESSING TOWARD FOOD SECURITY LILONGWE 00000454 001.2 OF 005 ¶1. Summary: Increasing food security in Malawi has been the Government of Malawi's (GOM) highest strategic priority since President Bingu wa Mutharika took office in 2004. The GOM has demonstrated a strong commitment to reducing poverty through agriculturally-led economic growth. The GOM is investing 13 percent of its 2009/2010 national budget to address agriculture and food security related issues, compared to the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program (CAADP) target of 10 percent. President Mutharika's first major initiative, the Agricultural Input Subsidy Program (AISP) contributed to four years of consecutive crop surpluses and one of the highest GDP growth rates in the world - 9.8 percent in 2008. The number of Malawians in need of food aid has decreased dramatically, from nearly half the population (over 4.5 million Malawians) following the 2004/2005 drought to less 5 percent today. ¶2. Despite these positive developments, the AISP and some other agricultural policy decisions have raised legitimate concerns about the long-term sustainability of the GOM's efforts. Malawi is still heavily dependent on rain-fed agricultural practices; a significant portion of the population is malnourished and continues to be food insecure during the "hungry season." The country remains only one or two bad rainy seasons away from a drought related humanitarian crisis. The GOM at the highest levels appreciates the need to address these issues and to shift resources to more sustainable and market-friendly approaches. In recent speeches, President Mutharika has made it clear that the AISP will not be his only tool for addressing food insecurity. Stressing the importance of irrigation and environmental management, the President has announced his intention to launch a national "Greenbelt" Initiative which will promote irrigation and better soil management as part of his push to improve agricultural productivity. The USG, through President Obama's upcoming Presidential Food Security Initiative, is well placed to play a leadership role in supporting this strong GOM commitment to reducing poverty and promoting food security and sustained broad-based economic growth. End summary. FOOD SECURITY IN MALAWI - CHRONICALLY ON THE BRINK ¶3. Despite recent strong economic growth, Malawi, a landlocked nation of 13 million people, is still one of the poorest, most food-insecure and densely populated economies in the world. This is an overwhelmingly agricultural nation of small farmers dependent on unreliable rainfall, which is why both food security and economic growth are vulnerable to climatic fluctuations. Even in a year of good rainfall, a significant percentage of Malawi's farmers cannot produce enough to last until the next harvest. Malnutrition, particularly among vulnerable groups including women and children, remains at unacceptably high levels. ¶4. Malawi's current agricultural and food security policy has evolved over the last several decades. As in most of Southern Africa, maize is the dominant staple. In the aggregate, Malawi was food self-sufficient in maize production in the 1970s. Agriculture was relatively concentrated on larger farms and estates, and population pressure was considerably less than in recent decades. Even during those years, however, food distribution was uneven. Poverty, malnutrition and food insecurity were severe. In the 1980s and 1990s, as population growth accelerated, the government decreased expensive blanket fertilizer and seed subsidies under liberalization and structural adjustment programs. Malawi subsequently experienced growing fluctuations in maize availability and domestic prices, culminating in 1996/7, when the supply of marketed maize fell precipitously and the price of maize quadrupled, causing widespread hardship among the poor. ¶5. The government and development partners responded to those crises in 1999 and 2000 with fertilizer and seed subsidies, including a free "starter pack," and targeted input credit facilities. The government drew a significant lesson from that experience and developed a firm belief that unless Malawian farmers have access to improved inputs for food production, unacceptably large numbers of the poor will be exposed to hunger or worse. Another major drought struck Malawi in 2004/2005, and maize production suffered a 48 percent decline in output from 1.98 million metric tons (MMT) - already below the national requirement of 2.3 MMT - to only 1.2 MMT. This shock reverberated throughout the economy, as GDP growth slowed significantly from 5.4 percent in 2004 to 3.2 percent in 2005, and led to a massive rescue program, including imported food aid. NEW ECONOMIC POLICIES SPUR STEADY IMPROVEMENT ¶6. Under the administration of President Mutharika, Malawi has pursued economic policies that have brought steady progress on food security and poverty reduction. The GOM's current agriculture and food security strategy, the Agricultural Development Program (ADP), emerged from the drought Malawi experienced in 2004/2005 and makes LILONGWE 00000454 002.2 OF 005 sustaining maize production levels its top priority. The GOM responded to these events with the introduction of an aggressive, nation-wide, smallholder fertilizer and seed subsidy initiative (the Agricultural Inputs Subsidy Program - AISP) that targeted mostly maize. The GOM also took a series of controversial agricultural policy decisions, including the temporary and partial exclusion of private sector participation in the AISP, export and trade restrictions on maize, and pricing interventions for several key commodities (maize, tobacco and cotton) that may have limited the overall impact and long-term sustainability of this key-stone initiative. The GOM justified these policy decisions as a response to concerns about price collusion on the part of large, private-sector buyers, and the need to ensure delivery to underserved rural areas. ¶7. Notwithstanding these significant challenges, Malawi's development track record since the last major drought has been impressive. Favorable weather since 2005, combined with aggressive government spending to distribute fertilizer, maize, and other seed to small farmers nationwide for the last four years, have combined to produce the desired effect. Maize production has nearly tripled since 2005, rising from a low of 1.2 MMT to 2.8 MMT in 2008, and crop estimates released on June 23, 2009 indicate another significant production increase to 3.7 MMT. While Malawi's agricultural production statistics should be used with caution and their accuracy is sometimes questioned, there is no doubt there have been major increases. Rapidly rising agricultural output and strong macroeconomic policies have pushed Malawi's GDP growth rate to an estimated 9.7 percent in 2008 and at least 6.9 percent for 2009 - the world's eighth-highest and the second-highest in Africa. More significantly, production has nearly doubled from the ten-year pre-drought average. ¶8. This impressive economic growth is a powerful affirmation of the GOM's strict fiscal discipline and public expenditure control. Malawi has reduced fiscal deficits to manageable proportions. It also brought inflation down from a high of over 90 percent in 1995 to below 10 percent since 2007. Lower interest rates have also resulted in a more dynamic financial services sector with increased commercial lending and innovative insurance mechanisms. At the same time, Malawi has also significantly increased its investment in agriculture. As of the 2009/10 budget, it accounts for 13 percent of total projected government spending, compared to the CAADP target of 10 percent. MALAWI'S AGRICULTURAL POLICY FRAMEWORK ¶9. The Agricultural Development Program (ADP),the GOM's main strategy document guiding current and future investments in the agriculture sector in Malawi, was developed in 2008 in concert with the leading economic growth, agriculture and humanitarian assistance donors. The ADP is in line with the principles of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program (CAADP) and lays out a framework to coordinate development efforts through 2012 by: 1) improving food security and nutrition; 2) strengthening commercial agriculture, agro-processing and market development; and, 3) promoting sustainable agricultural land and water management. ¶10. The agricultural sector in Malawi already enjoys close donor coordination and monitoring through the Donor Committee on Agriculture and Food Security (DCAFS). USAID is an active participant in this forum on behalf of the USG. Through DCAFS the donor community engages in a concerted dialogue with the GOM on technical matters and policy issues. For example, DCAFS meetings have seen donors express concerns about the private sector's participation in the AISP, and the need for accurate, annual, survey-based agricultural data collection. Any issues that cannot be resolved at the DCAFS level are taken up to the comparable heads-of-cooperating partners and heads-of-mission level oversight groups for higher policy level discussions and any appropriate action. ¶11. The DCAFS also provides a forum for donors to discuss and plan their investments in the agriculture sector to avoid duplication of efforts. Many of the major donors active in the agriculture sector in Malawi provide their funding directly to the GOM through the Common Approach to Budget Support (CABS) grouping which includes DfID, EU, World Bank, Norway, and Irish AID. Through direct budget support, these CABS donors support the AISP and other government funded food security activities such as a pilot cash transfer program and a targeted food for assets program. USAID complements these investments by helping smallholder farmers to increase their agricultural productivity, and to access local, regional and international markets for their products. MALAWI'S AGRICULTURAL INPUT SUBSIDY PROGRAM - THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY LILONGWE 00000454 003.2 OF 005 ¶12. The year 2015, the target date the world's governments have set to cut poverty and malnutrition in half from its 2000 levels, is just around the corner. The African Union's member states have committed to attaining this goal through concerted commitment to aggressive, agriculturally-led economic growth and poverty reduction strategies known as the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program (CAADP). According to recent International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) data, Malawi has achieved CAADP goals for four years running, with some of the highest investment in the agriculture sector on the continent, and is situated in the second highest category in terms of its progress in establishing a CAADP Compact. Malawi's Agriculture Inputs Subsidy Program (AISP) has been central to achieving these results. ¶13. Introduced in 2005, AISP is a bold nation-wide, voucher-based, smallholder fertilizer and seed subsidy program that allows over 1.5 million farmers to buy fertilizer and seeds at about one-fifth of the market price. The AISP is one of the largest and most often cited success stories in Africa, and has dramatically increased both the quantity of fertilizer available to farmers and the fiscal cost of the subsidy. The combination of increased fertilizer use, improved seeds, and good rainfall has resulted in substantially increased maize production over the past four years leading to improved food security and even some maize exports. ¶14. Despite these positive results, critics have expressed a number of legitimate concerns about the program, its high opportunity costs, the potential crowding-out effects on the private sector in some years, and the inefficiencies of the program. In 2006-2007, the total cost of the AISP was USD 91 million, representing 45 percent of the budget of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, and 5.2 percent of the national budget. Successive evaluations of the AISP have shown varying rates of return depending primarily on the price of fertilizer, leaving it unclear whether the program can be justified on efficiency grounds. The cost of the most recent AISP rose to more than USD 200 million, largely due to the rise in international fertilizer prices, but should be reduced in the upcoming year. The recent World Bank County Economic Memorandum for Malawi noted that even with the higher fertilizer prices, the cost-benefit of the AISP was still greater than 1. ¶15. The level of private sector involvement in the AISP has varied from year to year. During the first year of the program, while the seed element of the subsidy program was operated through private sector seed outlets, the distribution of the subsidized fertilizer was managed largely by two state-owned enterprises, effectively crowding out private agricultural input dealers. The reaction from the private sector and the development partners was strong, and the GOM allowed certified private agricultural input dealers to participate in the distribution of the fertilizer during the second year of the program. These gains were short-lived, however as the GOM, citing private sector collusion on pricing, decided the following year to distribute the subsidized fertilizer through the two state-owned enterprises once again. The GOM justified its decision to use the state-owned enterprises as the primary vehicle for the distribution of the fertilizer as a means to ensure delivery to extreme rural areas that would be unprofitable for the private sector. ¶16. The AISP continues to evolve. High level GOM officials have repeatedly indicated to the donor community that future rounds of fertilizer and seed subsidies will correct some of the inefficiencies of the present program, such as allowing private traders to distribute fertilizer, and restricting the subsidy to maize and improved legume seeds. Although imperfect, the bottom line is that the AISP is one useful tool to lift agriculture production. Fortunately, the GOM is increasingly focused on other complimentary tools. FUTURE DIRECTIONS OF GOM'S FOOD SECURITY INITIATIVES - THE "MALAWI GREENBELT" ¶17. The GOM appreciates the need to shift resources to more sustainable and market-friendly approaches to deal with food security. In his recent speech to Parliament highlighting the GOM's 2009/2010 budget, Finance Minister Ken Kandodo laid out plans for a second agricultural initiative - a drive to promote irrigation along Malawi's rivers and lakes known as the "Malawi Greenbelt" Initiative. A nation blessed with some of Southern Africa's highest rainfall levels, Malawi is nonetheless the second-least-irrigated nation in Southern Africa (after Zambia) and remains the most vulnerable to drought-induced shocks. ¶18. The rainy season in Malawi, generally from October through April, permits most smallholder farmers only a single crop per year unless they can irrigate their land. Malawi presently has fewer than 74,000 irrigated hectares out of a potential 400,000 hectares nationwide. To make matters worse, Malawi historically experiences LILONGWE 00000454 004.2 OF 005 roughly two severe droughts per decade. Arguably the single most important way to increase agricultural production, reduce vulnerability to drought, and increase rural household income is to shift smallholder farmers from rain-fed to irrigated farming. While the operational details of the Malawi Greenbelt are still being developed, this clearly demonstrates that the AISP is only one component of the GOM's broader strategy for ensuring long-term food security. ¶19. The GOM has included funds in its 2009/2010 budget to initiate the analysis and strategy development process for the Greenbelt Initiative and will seek additional resources from donors to support the implementation of the program. While the details of this process are yet to be worked out, additional agricultural funding will allow the USG to support the Malawi Greenbelt Initiative by: a) Providing technical assistance and input into the analysis and strategy development process; b) Greatly expanding existing small-scale irrigation and marketing activities to smallholder farmers; and, c) Increasing access to financing for irrigation-related equipment and other agricultural inputs through the USAID Development Credit Authority loan guarantee program. USG FOOD SECURITY INITIATIVES IN MALAWI ¶20. In his recent speech in Accra, President Obama underscored the commitment of the United States to increase support for a global agricultural and food security agenda. Despite some of the current agricultural policy challenges in Malawi, the USG, through the upcoming Presidential Food Security Initiative, has a unique window of opportunity to support the strong and growing GOM commitment to reducing poverty, improving food security and carving out a broad-based and equitable growth path. The Malawi government's level of commitment and the country's good prospects argue strongly for a concerted USG investment in the agricultural sector. ¶21. USG funding in the agriculture sector is coordinated at the USG interagency level through the Mission Strategic Plan and Operational Plan processes to increase the overall impact of our investments. For example, the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Compact Program, expected to be signed in 2010, will develop the electric power sector and parts of the country's road network which will support the development of agricultural markets and improve food security. Potential areas of collaboration between USAID and MCC include targeted activities to protect selected river basins and watersheds to safeguard key power and transportation infrastructure investments and to strengthen the financial management systems of public institutions active in these two sectors. ¶22. The USG's current agricultural assistance program is targeted at Reducing Poverty and Food Insecurity through Agriculturally-led Economic Growth. Although severely underfunded, the program has a record of solid achievements. Smallholder farmers participating in a USG-funded dairy project saw their average annual income increase to over USD 1,300, compared with Malawi's average per capita income level of USD 284. This impressive change not only improved family income, but positively impacted nutrition levels. Over 73,000 vulnerable households, many of which were headed by a woman or a child, benefited from crop diversification, seed multiplication, village savings and loans, and agricultural production and marketing programs. The 5,500 vulnerable households participating in USG-supported small-scale irrigation activities were able to substantially reduce their food insecurity during the dry season when they typically are unsure where their next meal is coming from. The USG has supported the creation of grassroots organizations such as the National Association of the Smallholder Farmers (NASFAM) which serves over 200,000 smallholder farmers, and assists other private sector associations to enhance their capacity to advocate for sound agricultural policies on the part of the GOM. ¶23. The USAID Mission to Malawi is finalizing its new Sustainable Economic Growth Strategy and its Implementation Plan for the Global Food Security Response (GFSR) Initiative. These documents will make a strong case for the additional resources needed to expand these successful programs and implement new and innovative activities to improve the livelihoods and food security of thousands of poor and vulnerable households. Specifically, the USG Mission to Malawi will use additional funding under the new Food Security Initiative to: 1) Work through a multi-donor effort to improve the GOM's capacity to develop and implement sound agricultural policies; 2) Increase agricultural production through small-scale irrigation, improved seeds, and environmentally-sound productivity-enhancing techniques; 3) Improve the overall competitiveness of key agriculturally-linked value-chains (dairy, coffee, etc.); 4) Promote inclusive, agriculture-led economic growth that generates food security, improved nutrition, and "pathways from poverty" for Malawi's ultra poor, usually women and children; 5) Improve access to financial services for the poor; and, 6) Promote improved natural resource management and biodiversity protection. LILONGWE 00000454 005.2 OF 005 CONCLUSION ¶24. The GOM has demonstrated a strong commitment to reducing poverty and improving food security through agriculturally-led economic growth and significant progress has been made over the past four years. These improvements, however, remain fragile and an unacceptably large number of Malawians, including women, children and HIV/AIDS affected persons, remain vulnerable. Given the GOM's renewed commitment to tackling food security issues and the Mission's proven track record on the ground, the USG, with sufficient resources, will be well placed to play a leadership role in reducing poverty, improving food security, and promoting long-term, sustainable economic growth in Malawi. BODDE