1 1 Why don ’ t farmers use fertilizers : 2 Evidence from Field Experiments in Western Kenya 3 (
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چکیده
1 Why don’t farmers use fertilizers: 2 Evidence from Field Experiments in Western Kenya 3 (PRELIMINARY AND INCOMPLETE) 4 April 29, 2006 5 6 Esther Duflo, Michael Kremer and Jonathan Robinson 7 8 9 Abstract 10 11 This paper reports on randomized field experiments set up to investigate 12 various reasons for the low usage of fertilizer in Western Kenya. 13 Demonstration plots set up on farmer’s farm show that the rate of return to 14 fertilizer is very high on average (up to 165%), but that in our sample, the 15 combination of fertilizer plus hybrid seed is not profitable on average or for 16 the median farmer. Farmers who participated in the demonstration plots 17 project are on average 11% more likely to use fertilizer in the next season 18 than a control group. The effect fades over time, but fertilizer use remains 19 permanently higher in this group. In contrast, we observe no evidence of 20 social learning, either between neighbors or between farmers who report 21 sharing experience about agriculture. Finally, a program that offered 22 farmers the option to buy fertilizer at harvest time led to a 17% increase in 23 the adoption of fertilizer, an effect larger than that of a 50% subsidy offered 24 later in the season. This suggests that the ability to save over the course of 25 the agricultural cycle is a barrier to the adoption of fertilizer. 26 27
منابع مشابه
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