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An in‐depth examination of maize yield response to fertilizer in Central Malawi reveals low profits and too many weeds
Author(s) -
Burke William J.,
Snapp Sieglinde S.,
Jayne Thom S.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
agricultural economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.29
H-Index - 82
eISSN - 1574-0862
pISSN - 0169-5150
DOI - 10.1111/agec.12601
Subject(s) - fertilizer , sowing , productivity , yield (engineering) , agronomy , panel data , panel survey , agricultural economics , environmental science , mathematics , field experiment , agricultural engineering , economics , statistics , biology , engineering , materials science , metallurgy , demographic economics , macroeconomics
We examine the productivity of fertilizer used on maize in Central Malawi using field‐level panel data from over 1,200 observations on more than 500 fields over 4 harvest years. There are several novel aspects of this analysis compared to other on‐farm fertilizer efficiency studies, including (a) precise and accurate yield measurement using crop cuts, (b) estimating the impact of timely weeding, (c) the use of data on multiple soil characteristics from a panel of soil samples, and (d) the ability to control for field‐level fixed effects by tracking the same land over time. We find critical ecological and management threshold effects on fertilizer effectiveness at 0.94% soil carbon content, 57–58% sandiness, and weeding within 4 weeks of planting. Overall, we estimate lower yield response to fertilizer than reported in earlier studies: 2.6 maize kg/N kg under ideal circumstances, and statistically nil under many other conditions. We discuss the implications of our findings for farmers, policymakers, and researchers.