Relaxing credit and information constraints: five-Year experimental evidence from Tanzanian agriculture.

Abstract

Low fertilizer application by small farmers continues to inhibit crop yields around the world. The reasons behind low application rates continue to be de- bated. We study the longer-term outcomes of a field experiment which focused on increasing fertilizer use. The original experiment showed that plot-specific fertilizer recommendations combined with a subsidy increase amounts of ap- plied fertilizer and maize yields relative to either intervention alone. We show that these effects dissipate once the subsidy is discontinued. Our results indi- cate that ability to pay for fertilizer continues to limit fertilizer use even when farmers have information about appropriate fertilizer types and amounts, and even after farmers have learned that fertilizer use is profitable. (JEL O13, Q16, Q18)

Description

Journal Article

Keywords

Credit, nformation Constraints, Tanzanian Agriculture, Experimental Evidence

Citation