Starter Packs A Strategy to Fight Hunger in Developing Countries? : Lessons from the Malawi Experience 1998-2003

Despite repeated interventions by governments, donors and NGOs in recent years, food insecurity continues and developing countries are forced to rely on food aid again and again. The original idea of Starter Pack was to give a tiny bag of agricultural inputs - fertilizer and seed - to every smallholder farmer in Malawi. Although the program did not work as originally intended, it was successful in achieving food security. The scaling down of the program was a major contributor to the food crisis which hit Malawi (and other countries in Southern Africa) at the beginning of 2002. For once, we have a success story about how hunger can be tackled efficiently. This book assesses the case of the Starter Pack program in Malawi, and whether it can be replicated elsewhere. It covers the practicalities of implementing such a large program and the policy debates.