Soil Fertility, Fertilizer, and the Maize Green Revolution in East Africa

This paper investigates the reasons for the low application of external fertilizers on farms in Kenya and Uganda. The analysis uses a large panel of household data with rich soil fertility data at the plot level. The authors control for maize seed selection and household effects by using a fixed-effects semi-parametric endogenous switching model. The results suggest that Kenyan maize farmers have applied inorganic fertilizer at the optimal level, corresponding to the high nitrogen-maize relative price, in one of the two survey years and also responded to the price change over time. In Uganda, even the low application of inorganic fertilizer is not profitable because of its high relative price. The authors conclude that policies that reduce the relative price of fertilizer could be effective in both countries, while the efficacy of policies based on improving farmers' knowledge about fertilizer use will be limited as long as the relative price of fertilizer remains high.

Bibliographic Details

Main Authors:	Matsumoto, Tomoya, Yamano, Takashi
Format:	Policy Research Working Paper biblioteca
Language:	English en_US
Published:	World Bank, Washington, DC 2009-12
Subjects:	AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT, AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION, AGRICULTURAL SCIENCE, AGRICULTURAL TECHNOLOGY, AGROFORESTRY, ANIMALS, CARBON CONTENT, CEREAL CROPS, CEREALS, CHEMICAL FERTILIZER, CLIMATE, CO, CROP, CROP PRODUCTION, CROP RESIDUE, CROPPING, CROPPING SYSTEMS, CROPS, DAP, ECOSYSTEMS, EXTERNAL INPUTS, FARM, FARM HOUSEHOLDS, FARMER, FARMERS, FARMS, FERTILIZER, FERTILIZER APPLICATION, FERTILIZER APPLICATIONS, FERTILIZER MARKET, FERTILIZER RESEARCH, FERTILIZER TYPE, FERTILIZER USE, FERTILIZERS, FOOD CROP, FOOD POLICY, FOOD POLICY RESEARCH, FOOD RESEARCH, GREEN REVOLUTION, GROWTH IN AGRICULTURE, HARVESTING, HIGH YIELDING VARIETIES, HOUSEHOLD LEVEL, INTERNATIONAL FOOD POLICY RESEARCH INSTITUTE, LAND DEGRADATION, LAND MANAGEMENT, LAND USE, MAIZE, MAIZE FARMERS, MAIZE PRODUCTION, MAIZE PRODUCTIVITY, MAIZE REVOLUTION, MAIZE SEED, MAIZE TECHNOLOGY, MAIZE YIELDS, MANURES, MARKET DEVELOPMENT, MARKETING COSTS, NEGATIVE IMPACT, NITROGEN, NITROGEN CONTENT, NITROGEN FERTILIZER, NUTRIENTS, ORGANIC MATTER, PH, PRODUCE, RAIN, RAINFALL, REFLECTANCE, RICE, SEED, SEED SELECTION, SEED TYPES, SEEDS, SMALL FARM, SOIL CARBON, SOIL CHARACTERISTICS, SOIL FERTILITY, SOIL QUALITY, SOILS, WEATHER CONDITIONS, YIELDS,
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2009/12/11531939/soil-fertility-fertilizer-maize-green-revolution-east-africa http://hdl.handle.net/10986/19960
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