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Variable returns to fertilizer use and its relationship to poverty: Experimental and simulation evidence from Malawi
| Content Provider | Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) |
|---|---|
| Author | Harou, Aurélie Liu, Yanyan Barrett, Christopher B. You, Liangzhi |
| Organization | IFPRI - HarvestChoice |
| Organization | IFPRI - Markets, Trade, and Institutions Division |
| Organization | IFPRI - Environment and Production Technology Division |
| Organization | IFPRI - Development Strategy and Governance Division |
| Spatial Coverage | Malawi [MW] |
| Description | Despite the rise of targeted input subsidy programs in Africa over the last decade, several questions remain as to whether low and variable soil fertility, frequent drought, and high fertilizer prices render fertilizer unprofitable for large subpopulations of African farmers. To examine these questions, we use large-scale, panel experimental data from maize field trials throughout Malawi to estimate the expected physical returns to fertilizer use conditional on a range of agronomic factors and weather conditions. Using these estimated returns and historical price and weather data, we simulate the expected profitability of fertilizer application over space and time. We find that the fertilizer bundles distributed under Malawi’s subsidy program are almost always profitable in expectation, although our results may be reasonably interpreted as upper-bound estimates among more skilled farmers given that the experimental subjects were not randomly selected. |
| Related Links | https://cgspace.cgiar.org/items/93171ddf-0f60-401d-86c2-fee905e195da |
| File Format | |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | International Food Policy Research Institute |
| Publisher Date | 2014-01-01 |
| Publisher Place | Washington, DC |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Subject Keyword | Policies, Institutions, and Markets Fertilizers Poverty Alleviation Farm Inputs Productivity Agricultural Development Subsidies |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
| Subject | Agronomy and Crop Science Food Science Plant Science |
