From the 2005/06 season, Malawi's agricultural input subsidy programme distributed vouchers that allowed small farmers to buy fertiliser at reduced prices. Evaluations record that shortages of fertiliser or vouchers repeatedly produced major queues across the country.
What distinguishes these lines is that they resulted not only from a shortage of goods but from a system that used lists and vouchers to decide who qualified for support. Agricultural policy entered farmers' lives not just in their fields, but as time spent waiting at distribution points.