This article provides a critical account of the cereal seed systems in Malawi, in both a historical and
contemporary context, with particular reference to the three input support programmes implemented since the
late 1990s to date. The centrality of the question of food security in the country’s electoral politics in a postliberalisation
context has created a seed industry dominated by multinational seed companies, who offer
farmers a narrow range of products, mainly hybrid maize, and in which alternative cereal seed systems, such as
millet and sorghum are at the verge of extinction. The interests of seed companies, donors and government
have, for different reasons, thus coincided to create a seed industry which has a narrow product portfolio and
distributes benefits to only a very small proportion of the population. The dominant players in Malawi’s ‘Green
Revolution Alliance’ shape the major policy directions, not always for the benefit of smallholder farmers.