Journal of Global Agriculture and Ecology

Agricultural input subsidies remain one of the most debated agricultural policy instruments in Sub-Saharan Africa. Governments continue to use them because smallholder farmers face high input prices, weak credit markets, poor rural infrastructure, and climate-related production risks that limit the adoption of fertilizer, improved seed, and other productivity-enhancing technologies. This paper examines how subsidy programs have evolved from broad state-led distribution systems toward more targeted and market-oriented approaches, with attention to experiences in Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, Tanzania, and Malawi. The analysis shows that subsidies can improve input access, raise crop output, and support household food security when they are well targeted, delivered on time, and linked to extension, soil fertility management, and functional input markets. However, the evidence also shows repeated problems: elite capture, leakage, late delivery, crowding out of commercial purchases, uneven benefits across farmer groups, and heavy fiscal costs. The paper argues that subsidies should not be treated as a permanent substitute for broader agricultural transformation. Instead, they should be designed as temporary, transparent, and performance-oriented instruments that strengthen smallholder resilience while encouraging graduation into commercial input markets. A more sustainable policy framework requires digital beneficiary systems, differentiated subsidy levels, stronger private sector participation, improved monitoring, soil health investments, and better alignment with climate-smart agriculture, rural finance, research, and market development.