The government of Malawi has been implementing
a large-scale Farm Input Subsidy Programme (FISP) since
2005/06 as an intervention aimed at improving food
security by addressing resource poor smallholder farmers’
affordability constraints in purchasing inorganic fertilizers.
However, in the design of the programme, there is lack
of articulation on the graduation of some farmers from
the subsidy over time. This paper considers ways in which
the concept of graduation may be usefully applied to
the FISP and sets out a broad conceptualisation of
graduation for potential application in programme
design and implementation.