Abstract
We investigate the reasons for the low application of external fertilizers on farms in Kenya and Uganda. 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 out of the two survey years and also responded to the price change over time. In Uganda, we find that even the low application of inorganic fertilizer is not profitable because of its high relative price. 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.
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- 1.
Many farmers in Kenya and Uganda recycle purchased HYV maize after harvesting. We group the recycled HYV maize with the local maize as we explain later in Sect. 8.2. Even the quality of the purchased HYV maize in Uganda is questionable. Some of the improved seeds in Uganda are open pollinated varieties. We discuss more on the issue in the chapter.
- 2.
Detailed discussions on the theoretical and estimation models are presented in Matsumoto and Yamano (2009).
- 3.
As we discuss in Sect. 8.3, we have only one soil observation per household. Thus, we assume that the soil carbon content is fixed across maize plots within a household and over time. Although it is not clear how long the soil carbon content is stable over time, it seems that the soil carbon content is more stable than other soil nutrients, such as nitrogen content.
- 4.
We do not include family labor in the model because family labor input was not asked in the second round of the surveys in both Kenya and Uganda. The family labor module was removed from the questionnaire in the second round because the quality of the family labor information was considered poor in the first round of the surveys. We implicitly assume that family labor input is adjusted optimally when the other input levels change. In the regression models, we estimate the household fixed effect models. Thus, as long as the family labor input remains at the same level, the omission of the family labor may not cause a serious bias.
- 5.
These two waves of surveys in Kenya were conducted by Tegemeo Institute, with financial and technical help from National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS).
- 6.
We estimated the determinants of the attrition from the surveys and found that none of the independent variables is significant at the 5% level. Thus, we think that the attrition mostly occurred randomly and do not expect serious attrition biases.
- 7.
The surveys in Uganda were conducted jointly by Makerere University, Foundation for Advanced Studies on International Development (FASID), and National GRIPS.
- 8.
The attrition rate is less than 5%. None of the independent variables in the determinants of the attrition model is significant even at the 10% level. Thus, we do not think the attrition biases serious.
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Matsumoto, T., Yamano, T. (2011). Optimal Fertilizer Use on Maize Production in East Africa. In: Yamano, T., Otsuka, K., Place, F. (eds) Emerging Development of Agriculture in East Africa. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-1201-0_8
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