| Program No | Program Name | Program Launch | Effective Date | Program Period |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| IFAD Loan No. 1-854-MW Grant No. 1-DSF-8092-MW | Sustainable Agriculture Production Programme (SAPP) | 24 January, 2012 | 9 Years. January 2012-December 2021 |
Financing Agencies
IFAD Grant: US$22.8 million IFAD Loan: US$22.8 million Malawi Government contribution: US$4.2 Beneficiaries Contribution: US$1.2 million Total: US$51.1 million.
Program Coverage
A total of 200,000 farming households, in 6 districts namely; Blantyre, Chiradzulu, Balaka, Lilongwe, Nkhotakota and Chitipa
Key Development Objective
The programme goal is to contribute to reduction of poverty and improved food security among the rural population. To achieve a viable and sustainable smallholder sector through promotion and adoption of Good Agriculture Practices. The programme will encourage the development and refinement of the existing technologies and practices with the intent of modifying them to suit the farmers' conditions and promote them for adoption.
Program Component
Component 1 - Adaptive Research and Knowledge Management.
Component 2 - Farmer Adoption of GAPs.
Component 3 - Programme Management and Coordination
Executive Summary
The Ministry of Agriculture Irrigation and Water Development (MoAIWD) started implementing field activities of the Sustainable Agriculture Production Programme (SAPP) in the 2013/14 Financial Year. The programme goal is to contribute to reduction of poverty and improved food security among the rural population. The specific development objective is to achieve a viable and sustainable smallholder agricultural sector employing good agricultural practices (GAPs). The programme is utilizing an allocated financing volume of 51.1 million USD. This is distributed in all the components and sub components.
Background
The Malawi economy largely depends on the agriculture sector. The sector accounts for about 30% of gross domestic product (GDP) and generates more than 80% of foreign exchange. It is estimated that crop production accounts for 74% of all rural incomes, and agriculture is the most important occupation for over 70% of the rural population. While the sector is dualistic (estate and smallholder), it is dominated by undiversified smallholder production for subsistence. Maize which is also a staple is the commonly grown crop among smallholder farmers often due to affordability challenges without application of critical improved technologies resulting to low productivity. Such low productivity is aggravated by among others unstable weather, limited private sector development and poor infrastructure. Malawi agriculture is mainly rain-fed with only about 4% of crop land under irrigation. However, given the land and water resources, this area can be more than doubled. Some of the key challenges facing agricultural development and rural poverty reduction in Malawi include: - small land size holdings, low crop yields due to land degradation and declining soil fertility, lack of diversification, poorly developed markets and weak service provision. Government has been implementing its programmes both with donor support and own generated resources to address some of the problems smallholder farmers face in the rain-fed cultivation system
Domestic Policies
The goal of SAPP is informed by the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy III (MGDS III) (2017-2022) which is the overarching National Development Plan which was launched in March 2018. This recognizes agriculture as one of the key priority area. Some of the sector outcomes include; (a) Increased agricultural production and productivity; (b) Increased land under irrigation; (c) Increased agricultural diversification; (d) Improved nutrition and food security; (e) Increased agriculture market development, agro-processing and value addition.
International Policies
The NAIP is informed informed by global, continental and regional policy frameworks. Its targets, therefore, are also aligned to the M&E and results frameworks. Malawi is a signatory to international instruments related to agriculture, including the Sustainable Development Goals (2015) and the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) Compact. The CAADP is Africa’s policy framework for agricultural transformation, wealth creation, food and nutrition security as well as inclusive economic growth. It helps to identify sources of pro-poor growth for the agriculture sector, build knowledge management systems and embrace peer review mechanisms to enhance collective responsibility and local ownership. Malawi signed the CAADP compact in 2010, setting the stage for joint sector reviews, budgetary and investment dialogue, and commitments to align, scale up and improve the quality of sector investment.