Improving the Efficiency and Transparency of the Farm Input Subsidy Programme in Malawi through Digital Beneficiary Targeting and Timely Input Distribution

Abstract

Purpose: This study examines why Malawi's Farm Input Subsidy Programme has continued to lose a substantial share of its value to elite capture, ghost beneficiaries, and late input delivery despite two decades of reform attempts, and it evaluates whether a digitally enabled beneficiary targeting and distribution model can correct these failures.

Methodology: The study relies on a qualitative, comparative document analysis of peer reviewed literature, programme evaluations, and secondary government data published mainly between 2021 and 2026, supplemented by a smaller set of foundational studies on the programme's early years. Sources were retrieved from Scopus, Google Scholar, and institutional repositories and analyzed thematically against three propositions concerning biometric targeting, mobile money based e vouchers, and logistics transparency.

Results: The evidence indicates that biometric registration linked to an independent proxy means test can meaningfully reduce duplicate and fictitious beneficiary records, that mobile money e voucher redemption lowers leakage and shortens distribution timelines when paired with adequate network coverage, and that public dashboards strengthen accountability by exposing bottlenecks in real time.

Conclusions: A phased, three pillar digital reform anchored in registration, redemption, and logistics can plausibly restore a large share of the programme's fiscal and social value.

Limitations: The absence of primary household survey data and the reliance on cross country secondary evidence limit causal claims.

Contributions: The study offers policymakers a synthesized, evidence based roadmap for sequencing digital reform in a resource constrained agricultural subsidy system.