Increasing maize yields with soil testing and subsides in Tanzania
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Date
2020-09
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
FEED THE FUTURE
Abstract
Though the use of fertilizers can enhance productivity and increase profits
for small-scale farming families, two barriers to their adoption have proved
critical. First, many farmers often cannot afford to buy fertilizers; second,
use recommendations from government sources may not be appropriate
for specific farms. In Tanzania, 1 our multi-disciplinary team used low-cost
soil testing to pair field-specific recommendations with subsidy vouchers
to help cover the cost of fertilizer purchase. Our results show that farmers
benefitted significantly in both yields and profits when (1) fertilizer
recommendations were calibrated to the needs of individual farms and (2)
a subsidy made the recommended fertilizers affordable.
Description
Keywords
maize yields, soil testing, small-scale farming, use of fertilizers, Tanzania