President Lazarus Chakwera has said his administration will make urgent reforms to the design and implementation of Affordable Inputs Programme ( AIP) to improve its efficiency and protect it from careless acts of negligence, corruption, incompetence, and wastage.
In his address to the nation on Tuesday at Kamuzu Palace in Lilongwe, Chakwera said new reforms will have strategic plans for targeting beneficiaries to the AIP, and will also adopt the use of cooperatives and farming clubs to graduate farmers from the programme.
“These reforms will make sure that the 4 million households that need government interventions are streamlined to various social support programmes according to their needs, by using the Unified Beneficiary Register (UBR) and National Identity Cards,” he said.
The President further said the new targeting system will ensure that every household on the 4 million is served by different interventions tailored to their need and capacity instead of lumping everyone under AIP.
According to Chakwera, despite the successful distribution of subsidized fertilizer to millions in 2020 and 2021, there are still 3.8 million Malawians who are food insecure in 2022. He argued that this is proof that a new and more effective AIP is needed urgently.
The president emphasised that the reforms will also include Policing AIP expenditure with discipline to keep it within its budgeted amount.
Reported by Linda Moyo
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