Vincent Gunde 
By Vincent Gunde
A total of 27,180 beneficiaries are expected to benefit from the 2026/ 2027 Farm Input Subsidy Programme (FISP) in Dowa district.
The 2026/ 2027 figure is down by 21,780 from 48,987 beneficiaries recorded for the 2025/ 2026 farming season.
Briefing the District executive committee (Dec) at a meeting held at the Boma, Chief Agricultural Officer for Dowa West Agriculture office Ms. Matilda Mtambo, said FISP is a Government of Malawi initiative aimed at improving food security and increasing incomes among smallholder farmers through access to affordable farm inputs, championed by the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development.
Mtambo said each beneficiary household will receive 1 bag 50 Kg NPK basal fertilizer, 1 bag 50 Kg Urea – top – dressing fertilizer, and 1.5 Kg pack of certified seed saying beneficiary contribution is K20,000 per 50 Kg bag of fertilizer and K10,000 per 5 Kg pack of certified maize seed.
She said as a condition of programme participation, beneficiaries shall actively engage in the production and utilization of Mbeya organic fertilizer, saying extension workers shall provide technical guidance on the preparation, management, and application of Mbeya organic fertilizer.
The officer said beneficiaries for the 2026/ 27 FISP were selected through Farmer Organizations in an open forum where Farmer Organization members nominated eligible households based on approved criteria.
Mtambo said only members previously registered as members of the Farmer Organizations were eligible for selection using the criteria.
“As a result, those who were registered externally but did not belong to the Farmer Organizations, were removed and replaced with other people belonging to the same Farmer Organization,” said Mtambo.
However, Mtambo said the registration of beneficiaries encountered challenges in the district such as pressure from local leaders to distribute the allocated Farmer Organization figures to villages, registration of people who were outside the Farmer Organization data base, ID mismatching, and double registration – one person registered to two or more Farmer Organizations as a beneficiary.
Mtambo said secure coupons will be used by beneficiaries to redeem inputs saying the coupon distribution is designed to ensure that only approved beneficiaries receive programme coupons.
In his remarks, Dowa District Council’s Director of Planning and Development Phillimon Maseko, urged all stakeholders and partners to support this year’s F1SP to register a success in Dowa district.
The 2026/27 Farm Input Subsidy Programme (FISP) was officially launched by the Hon. Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development Roza Mbilizi in Ntchisi on 24th September, 2026.
