Farm- and community-level factors underlying the profitability of fertiliser usage for Ethiopian smallholder farmers

cg.contributor.crpPolicies, Institutions, and Markets
cg.contributor.donorBill & Melinda Gates Foundationen
cg.contributor.donorCGIAR Trust Funden
cg.coverage.countryEthiopia
cg.coverage.iso3166-alpha2ET
cg.coverage.regionEastern Africa
cg.coverage.regionSub-Saharan Africa
cg.coverage.regionAfrica
cg.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.1080/03031853.2021.1984958en
cg.isijournalISI Journalen
cg.issn0303-1853en
cg.issue4en
cg.journalAgrekonen
cg.reviewStatusPeer Reviewen
cg.volume60en
dc.contributor.authorAssefa, B. T.en
dc.contributor.authorReidsma, P.en
dc.contributor.authorChamberlin, Jordanen
dc.contributor.authorvan Ittersum, M. K.en
dc.date.accessioned2025-01-29T12:58:12Zen
dc.date.available2025-01-29T12:58:12Zen
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10568/171459
dc.titleFarm- and community-level factors underlying the profitability of fertiliser usage for Ethiopian smallholder farmersen
dcterms.abstractWhile adoption rates for inorganic fertiliser are relatively high in Ethiopia, application rates are generally considered agronomically suboptimal. Using recent data on Ethiopian smallholder maize producers, we showed that maize response to nitrogen, and the profitability of fertiliser use depended on maize agronomy. The agronomic optimum ranged from 0 to 344 kg/ha with a mean value of 209 kg/ha. The actual nitrogen application rates were only about half the agronomic optimum, on average, and were less than the farm-specific economic optimum on 80% of maize fields. The average economic optimum level was 145 kg N/ha, but when we account for risk aversion, the resulting average optimum level is very close to the average observed usage level of 88 kg N/ha. Addressing risk aversion may help to induce greater levels of fertiliser investments at current prices and yield response rates. Our analysis also suggests that key pathways for increasing the economic returns to smallholder fertiliser investments include: complementing nitrogen inputs with phosphorus inputs and improved varieties, using lower levels of nitrogen under intercropping and manure inputs, enabling farmers to delay output sales beyond the immediate post-harvest period, and lowering the costs of accessing input and output markets.en
dcterms.accessRightsOpen Access
dcterms.available2021-12-05
dcterms.bibliographicCitationAssefa, B. T.; Reidsma, P.; Chamberlin, Jordan; and van Ittersum, M. K. 2021. Farm- and community-level factors underlying the profitability of fertiliser usage for Ethiopian smallholder farmers. Agrekon 60(4): 460-479. https://doi.org/10.1080/03031853.2021.1984958en
dcterms.extentpp. 460-479en
dcterms.issued2021-10-02
dcterms.languageen
dcterms.licenseCC-BY-4.0
dcterms.publisherTaylor and Francisen
dcterms.subjectfarmersen
dcterms.subjectsmallholdersen
dcterms.subjectfarmsen
dcterms.subjectfertilizersen
dcterms.subjectprofitabilityen
dcterms.subjectmaizeen
dcterms.subjectintensificationen
dcterms.subjectnitrogen fertilizersen
dcterms.subjectproduction technologyen
dcterms.subjectintensive farmingen
dcterms.typeJournal Article

Files

Collections