The implementation in Malawi of a large-scale agricultural input subsidy program in the 2005/06 agricultural season and in subsequent years has attracted significant international interest. 1 While much of this attention has applauded reported growth in maize production and food security in the country, there have also been significant criticisms and questions. These have focused on the effectiveness and efficiency of the program in raising maize productivity, its impacts on the development of sustainable commercial input markets (RickerGilbert, Jayne, and Chirwa 2011), its high and (from 2005/06 to 2008/09) dramatically rising fiscal and macroeconomic costs, its opportunity costs (in terms of crowding out of other investments), its overall return on investment, and its sustainability (SOAS et al. 2008; Dorward and Chirwa 2009a, 2009b, 2010; Dorward, Chirwa, and Slater 2010a, 2010b; Kelly,Boughton, and Lenski 2010).