Variable returns to fertiliser use and the geography of poverty: Experimental and simulation evidence from Malawi

PRIFPRI3; ISI; CRP2EPTD; MTID; PIMCGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM

Exploring agriculture-child nutrition pathways: evidence from Malawi’s Farm Input Subsidy Program

Child undernutrition is highly prevalent around the world, particularly in low-income countries where economies are largely driven by the agricultural sector. Agricultural policies have the potential to impact total food production as well as food quality and diversity, thereby shaping nutritional status. In this study, we first corroborate evidence that Malawi’s Farm Input Subsidy Program (FISP), which provides subsidized vouchers for farm inputs to targeted rural households, boosts child nutritional status. Our analysis includes recent years during which the program’s nutrition impacts have not been previously examined. We then investigate three broad categories of agriculture-child nutrition linkages in the context of this program: (1) farm production and diversity, (2) crop sales, non-farm enterprises, and food consumption from different sources (purchases and own production), and (3) women’s empowerment and the

Increasing maize yields with soil testing and subsides in Tanzania

Though the use of fertilizers can enhance productivity and increase profits for small-scale farming families, two barriers to their adoption have proved critical. First, many farmers often cannot afford to buy fertilizers; second, use recommendations from government sources may not be appropriate for specific farms. In Tanzania, 1 our multi-disciplinary team used low-cost soil testing to pair field-specific recommendations with subsidy vouchers to help cover the cost of fertilizer purchase. Our results show that farmers benefitted significantly in both yields and profits when (1) fertilizer recommendations were calibrated to the needs of individual farms and (2) a subsidy made the recommended fertilizers affordable