Non-Labor Input Quality and Small Farms in Sub-Saharan Africa : A Review
Adoption of non-labor agricultural inputs, including pesticides and mineral fertilizers, remains low among small-scale farmers in many low-income countries. Accurate measurement of the quality of these inputs and of quantities deployed is essential...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2022
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/099230006172215257/IDU054afa1b60f50c0489d0afa50c562a97e2882 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/37571 |
| Summary: | Adoption of non-labor agricultural
inputs, including pesticides and mineral fertilizers,
remains low among small-scale farmers in many low-income
countries. Accurate measurement of the quality of these
inputs and of quantities deployed is essential for assessing
economic returns, understanding the drivers of agricultural
productivity, and proposing and evaluating policies for
increasing agricultural production. Reviewing evidence
regarding the quality of mineral fertilizers and pesticides
available to small farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa, this paper
summarizes four key findings. First, the available evidence
on non-labor input quality to date centers mostly on urea
fertilizer and glyphosate herbicide, with limited assessment
of other important inputs, including multi-nutrient
fertilizers. Second, the evidence shows that nitrogen
shortages are exceedingly rare for urea, although quality
problems are more common in fertilizer blends including
nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium blends, as well as
diammonium phosphate, and in glyphosate herbicide. Third,
although nutrient shortages in nitrogen, phosphorous, and
potassium fertilizer blends and diammonium phosphate
fertilizer blends are likely attributable to problems with
manufacturing and storage, problems with available
herbicides could be due to manufacturing issues,
counterfeiting, or adulteration. Fourth, although farmers
are broadly suspicious of the quality of mineral fertilizer
and pesticides, evidence from several studies suggests that
these beliefs do not reflect lab-based assessments of
quality. In light of these findings, this paper recommends
best practices for evaluation of non-labor input quality and
summarizes research evaluating farmer assessment of
fertilizer and pesticide quality. The paper concludes by
identifying key evidentiary gaps related to measuring
non-labor agricultural input quality and use, and recommends
specific topics for future research. |
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