Malawi's government has ditched its digital fertiliser subsidy system and gone back to old-school paper coupons -- and campaigners fear it could reopen the door to dodgy dealings.

The Farm Inputs Subsidy Programme (Fisp) hands out cheap fertiliser and seed to more than a MILLION households every year -- but has been plagued by scandal after scandal, from ghost beneficiaries to stolen supplies.

Now bosses at the Ministry of Agriculture have confirmed the 2026-27 scheme, kicking off in early September, will scrap digital databases, mobile apps and ID checks -- replacing them with paper coupons handed out through 5,446 farmer groups covering a whopping 1,221,861 beneficiaries.

Farmers will also have to prove they own Mbeya fertiliser to bag their two free sacks of the inorganic stuff.

Keep up with the latest headlines on WhatsApp | LinkedIn

Ministry spokeswoman Salome Gangire insisted it's all just routine housekeeping.

"The guidelines are updated every year as part of the programme's continuous improvement process," she said.

Meanwhile, the Smallholder Farmers Fertiliser Revolving Fund of Malawi -- tipped to be the main supplier this year -- has already asked for a MASSIVE 75 per cent slice of the K111 BILLION fertiliser contracts up for grabs. Government wants to buy a huge 61,093 tonnes of the stuff.

But not everyone's convinced the switch will clean up the scheme's act. Transparency campaigner Willy Kambwandira warned: "Moving back and forth between systems without fixing the underlying governance failures is a recipe for corruption, manipulation of beneficiary lists, ghost beneficiaries, political patronage and diversion of inputs."

He added: "The issue is not whether the coupon is paper or electronic -- the issue is whether the system is transparent, independently verifiable and accountable."

Farmers taking part will still have to stump up K20,000 for each 50kg bag of fertiliser, plus K10,000 for every 5kg bag of seed.