National Agricultural Investment Plan (NAIP).

This National Agricultural Investment Plan (NAIP) is a five-year nationwide multi-sectoral document developed by the Government of Malawi to put into effect the National Agriculture Policy (NAP) of 2016 by guiding investment focus in the medium-term to accelerate 1. agriculture transformation, 2. economic growth and 3. poverty reduction. The NAP’s transformation agenda involves a holistic approach to a heterogeneous sector with the following targets (i) focus on smallholders; (ii) support to commercial farming; (iii) focus on production and productivity; (iv) sustainable management of agricultural resources; (v) resilience to climate change; (vi) increased agricultural exports; and (vii) food security and improved nutrition. Its implementation therefore requires inputs from other sectors and line ministries. The NAIP uses a matrix structure composed of four Programs (rather generic and aligned to the NAP) and 16 Intervention Areas (IAs). The four Programs are: Program A: Policies, Institutions and Coordination for Results; Program B: Resilient Livelihoods and Agricultural Systems; Program C: Production and Productivity for Growth; and Program D: Markets, Value Addition, Trade and Finance for Transformation. The IAs cluster activities in technical areas that are needed to achieve the objectives of the NAIP and most of them are crosscutting, address different domains in the agri-food system, and target different stakeholder groups.
To help eliminate hunger and food insecurity, the NAIP promotes interventions such as (i) agriculture-based interventions that make important contributions to reducing stunting by increasing the availability of diverse and healthy foods in urban and rural areas; (ii) improved food access through lower food prices and increased incomes, and by decreasing the gender gap in agriculture; (iii) reduction of incidence and impact of pest and diseases in crop, livestock and fisheries production; (iv) improved school feeding programs; (v) establishment of orchards in schools, and (vi) awareness programs on nutrition.
In order to make agriculture and fisheries more productive and sustainable, the Plan focuses on investments for (i) strengthening resilience of livelihoods and natural resource base for agriculture; (ii) rehabilitation and establishment of irrigation schemes; (iii) sustainable increasing of diversified crop production and productivity under irrigation; (iv) in the estate sub-sector, promotion of a two-pronged approach combining productivity increases and horizontal (area) expansion to encourage investments and sustainable agricultural practices by strengthening land tenure security; (v) support to farmers with different extension approaches and technologies so that they can increase and diversify their production; (vi) increasing in percentage of farmers using improved seeds; (vii) increasing in fertilizer usage per ha of arable land; (viii) farmers' awareness on bio-fortified varieties; (ix) bio-security procedures for fish and livestock; (x) training on animal hygiene and disease prevention; (xi) vaccination campaigns; (xii) bio-technologies for pest and disease control; (xiii) germplasm conservation and refurbishment of Genetic Center; and (xiv) small stock multiplication through farmer breeders.
The measures provided for in this National Agricultural Investment Plan are intended also to reduce rural poverty through the agriculture development.
Enabling more inclusive and efficient agricultural and food systems will be possible among others by (i) linking smallholder farmers to markets by providing inputs and services and bulking production within out grower arrangements; (ii) take a holistic approach to make smallholder and commercial segments of the agri-food system grow in parallel to meet evolving market demands while competing with imports; (iii) including measures to close the gender gap in agriculture, support youth employment and entrepreneurship; and (iv) training fishermen, including women and youth, on improved management and technologies.
To increase the resilience of livelihoods to disasters, the Plan suggests to (i) train farmers on climate-resilient agro-forestry practices; (ii) disseminate new agricultural technologies and climate-smart approaches; (iii) reduce agriculture’s carbon footprint; (iv) enhance the resilience of production systems and promote sustainable management of natural resources, including improved land use planning based on zoning and protected areas, sustainable management of fisheries, sustainable management of water resources through catchment management approaches, conservation of genetic resources, up scaling of agro-forestry; organic manure production and use, inter-cropping with legumes, and enhancement of community and household resilience; and (iv) improve rainwater harvesting and train farmers on rainwater harvesting.
As for the Governance, at national level, the Cabinet Committee on the Economy will provide political guidance and facilitate speedy clearance of policies and regulations while the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development (MoAIWD) will provide leadership in the policy processes, planning, coordination and monitoring. In addition a wide range of implementation partners will be responsible for financial, implementation and technical support at the relevant levels of the sector.