The subsidy fertilizer supply chain challenges in Malawi

The high cost of fertilizer left many small holder farmers unable to access fertilizer which resulted in low agricultural production in Malawi. To solve this problem, the government introduced the Farm Input Subsidy Program (FISP) in 2004/2005 growing season. The subsidy program constituted about 60...

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Main Author: Msuku, Gryson Kondwani Chibwatiko
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: 2019
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Online Access:http://eprints.utm.my/id/eprint/85841/1/GrysonKondwaniChibwatikoMFABU2019.pdf
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spelling my-utm-ep.858412020-07-30T07:35:09Z The subsidy fertilizer supply chain challenges in Malawi 2019 Msuku, Gryson Kondwani Chibwatiko TH434-437 Quantity surveying The high cost of fertilizer left many small holder farmers unable to access fertilizer which resulted in low agricultural production in Malawi. To solve this problem, the government introduced the Farm Input Subsidy Program (FISP) in 2004/2005 growing season. The subsidy program constituted about 60% of all fertilizer imports into the country. But besides huge investment into this program, food insecurity situation had not been eliminated leaving many smallholder farmers depending on food handouts to take them to the next harvesting season. Policy makers had been exploring options on how to exploit the benefits of FISP. It is for that reason that an investigation was conducted on transportation challenges in fertilizer supply chain, as late delivery was reported to be one of the problems in the distribution process. Because of that, three research objectives and research questions were formulated, and a pragmatic philosophy was adopted. Through this philosophy, both qualitative as well as quantitative research methods in data collection were employed. A snowball sampling method was used with the assistance of Road Transport Operators Association (RTOA) in Malawi. Three managers from both public as well as private fertilizer companies were interviewed while 38 questionnaires were administered to transporters that had previously been involved in subsidy fertilizer distribution. The findings of the research spotted logistical problems in the process of awarding contracts to fertilizer importers as well as transporters as not effective because of bribery, political interference and bias claims, as the main causes of the inefficiencies. Other findings included problems with beneficiary identification, high transportation costs, not utilizing ICT, ITS and lack of Research and Development as other challenges affecting productivity. This research came up with a Roadmap to Fertilizer Supply Chain as a reference material to future fertilizer supply chain studies, proposed “group fertilizer procurement” in future fertilizer procurement policies and provided empirical evidence of transportation challenges affecting fertilizer distribution in Malawi. 2019 Thesis http://eprints.utm.my/id/eprint/85841/ http://eprints.utm.my/id/eprint/85841/1/GrysonKondwaniChibwatikoMFABU2019.pdf application/pdf en public http://dms.library.utm.my:8080/vital/access/manager/Repository/vital:131631 masters Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Faculty of Built Environment & Surveying Faculty of Built Environment & Surveying
institution Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
collection UTM Institutional Repository
language English
topic TH434-437 Quantity surveying
spellingShingle TH434-437 Quantity surveying
Msuku, Gryson Kondwani Chibwatiko
The subsidy fertilizer supply chain challenges in Malawi
description The high cost of fertilizer left many small holder farmers unable to access fertilizer which resulted in low agricultural production in Malawi. To solve this problem, the government introduced the Farm Input Subsidy Program (FISP) in 2004/2005 growing season. The subsidy program constituted about 60% of all fertilizer imports into the country. But besides huge investment into this program, food insecurity situation had not been eliminated leaving many smallholder farmers depending on food handouts to take them to the next harvesting season. Policy makers had been exploring options on how to exploit the benefits of FISP. It is for that reason that an investigation was conducted on transportation challenges in fertilizer supply chain, as late delivery was reported to be one of the problems in the distribution process. Because of that, three research objectives and research questions were formulated, and a pragmatic philosophy was adopted. Through this philosophy, both qualitative as well as quantitative research methods in data collection were employed. A snowball sampling method was used with the assistance of Road Transport Operators Association (RTOA) in Malawi. Three managers from both public as well as private fertilizer companies were interviewed while 38 questionnaires were administered to transporters that had previously been involved in subsidy fertilizer distribution. The findings of the research spotted logistical problems in the process of awarding contracts to fertilizer importers as well as transporters as not effective because of bribery, political interference and bias claims, as the main causes of the inefficiencies. Other findings included problems with beneficiary identification, high transportation costs, not utilizing ICT, ITS and lack of Research and Development as other challenges affecting productivity. This research came up with a Roadmap to Fertilizer Supply Chain as a reference material to future fertilizer supply chain studies, proposed “group fertilizer procurement” in future fertilizer procurement policies and provided empirical evidence of transportation challenges affecting fertilizer distribution in Malawi.
format Thesis
qualification_level Master's degree
author Msuku, Gryson Kondwani Chibwatiko
author_facet Msuku, Gryson Kondwani Chibwatiko
author_sort Msuku, Gryson Kondwani Chibwatiko
title The subsidy fertilizer supply chain challenges in Malawi
title_short The subsidy fertilizer supply chain challenges in Malawi
title_full The subsidy fertilizer supply chain challenges in Malawi
title_fullStr The subsidy fertilizer supply chain challenges in Malawi
title_full_unstemmed The subsidy fertilizer supply chain challenges in Malawi
title_sort subsidy fertilizer supply chain challenges in malawi
granting_institution Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Faculty of Built Environment & Surveying
granting_department Faculty of Built Environment & Surveying
publishDate 2019
url http://eprints.utm.my/id/eprint/85841/1/GrysonKondwaniChibwatikoMFABU2019.pdf
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