Smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa use fertilizer well below recommended rates, contributing to consistently low agricultural productivity.
Smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa use fertilizer well below recommended rates, contributing to consistently low agricultural productivity. Farmers in Tanzania and Kenya, for example, apply just 13 kilograms of fertilizer per hectare, compared with 165 to 175 kilograms in India and Brazil. Low use directly affects cereal yields, which average 1.2 to 1.7 metric tons per hectare, compared to 4 to 4.5 metric tons in South America and Asia.
A new study from the University of Illinois finds farmers have misconceptions about fertilizer quality and suggests those misconceptions are a major reason for low application rates.
“Farmers were not using much fertilizer; that’s well established in the region of Tanzania where we were working. In discussions with farmers we heard again and again the explanation was they thought the fertilizer was fake or bad, and they didn't want to buy it,” says Hope Michelson, associate professor in the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics (ACE) at U of I.
Read more: University of Illinois College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Science
University of Illinois researchers examined fertilizer use in Tanzania. (Photo Credit: Anna Fairbairn.)
