Disrupting Demand for Commercial Seed: Input Subsidies in Malawi and Zambia

This study uses nationally representative household-level panel data from Malawi and Zambia to identify the determinants of subsidized maize seed and fertilizer receipt, and to estimate how input subsidies affect households’ commercial purchases of improved maize seed varieties. In both countries we find that households in areas where the ruling party won the last presidential election acquire significantly more subsidized inputs than other households. Results also indicate that each additional kilogram of subsidized maize seed acquired by a household reduces its commercial improved maize seed purchases by 0.58kg in Malawi and by 0.49kg in Zambia on average.