IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hhs/gunwpe/0337.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Does Fertilizer Use Respond to Rainfall Variability? Panel Data Evidence from Ethiopia

Author

Listed:
  • Alem, Yonas

    (Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University)

  • Bezabih, Mintewab

    (Department of Economics, University of Portsmouth, UK)

  • Kassie, Menale

    (Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University)

  • Zikhali, Precious

    (Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University)

Abstract

In this paper we use farmers' actual experiences with changes in rainfall levels and their responses to these changes to assess if patterns of fertilizer use are responsive to changes in rainfall patterns. Using plot and farm level panel data from the central Highlands of Ethiopia matched with corresponding village level rainfall data; results show that both the current year’s decision to adopt and the intensity of fertilizer adoption is positively associated with higher rainfall levels experienced in the previous year. Furthermore, we find a concave relationship between previous season rainfall levels and fertilizer adoption, indicating that too much rainfall discourages adoption. Abundant rainfall in the previous year could depict relaxed liquidity constraints and increased affordability of fertilizer, which makes rainfall availability critical in severely credit constrained environments. In light of similar existing literature, the major contribution of the study is its use of plot level panel data, which permits us to investigate the importance of plot characteristics in fertilizer adoption decisions.

Suggested Citation

  • Alem, Yonas & Bezabih, Mintewab & Kassie, Menale & Zikhali, Precious, 2009. "Does Fertilizer Use Respond to Rainfall Variability? Panel Data Evidence from Ethiopia," Working Papers in Economics 337, University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:gunwpe:0337
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/2077/18935
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Stefan Dercon & Pramila Krishnan, 1996. "Income portfolios in rural Ethiopia and Tanzania: Choices and constraints," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(6), pages 850-875.
    2. Dercon, Stefan & Christiaensen, Luc, 2011. "Consumption risk, technology adoption and poverty traps: Evidence from Ethiopia," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(2), pages 159-173, November.
    3. Menale Kassie & John Pender & Mahmud Yesuf & Gunnar Kohlin & Randy Bluffstone & Elias Mulugeta, 2008. "Estimating returns to soil conservation adoption in the northern Ethiopian highlands," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 38(2), pages 213-232, March.
    4. Dercon, Stefan & Christiaensen, Luc, 2011. "Consumption risk, technology adoption and poverty traps: Evidence from Ethiopia," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(2), pages 159-173, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. World Bank, 2012. "The Welfare Effects of Extreme Weather Events : Insights from Three APEC Case Studies," World Bank Publications - Reports 13039, The World Bank Group.
    2. Shawn Cole & Xavier Giné & James Vickery, 2017. "How Does Risk Management Influence Production Decisions? Evidence from a Field Experiment," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 30(6), pages 1935-1970.
    3. Ogada, Maurice Juma & Nyangena, Wilfred & Yesuf, Mahmud, 2010. "Production risk and farm technology adoption in the rain-fed semi-arid lands of Kenya," African Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, African Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 4(2), pages 1-16, June.
    4. Juma, Maurice & Nyangena, Wilfred & Yesuf, Mahmud, 2090. "Production Risk and Farm Technology Adoption in Rain-Fed, Semi-Arid Lands of Kenya," RFF Working Paper Series dp-09-22-efd, Resources for the Future.
    5. Yonas Alem & Nzinga H. Broussard, 2018. "The impact of safety nets on technology adoption: a difference†in†differences analysis," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 49(1), pages 13-24, January.
    6. Wondimagegn Tesfaye & Gebrelibanos Gebremariam, 2020. "Consumption smoothing and price enhancement motives for grain storage: empirical perspectives from rural Ethiopia," Agricultural and Food Economics, Springer;Italian Society of Agricultural Economics (SIDEA), vol. 8(1), pages 1-19, December.
    7. Tesfaye, Wondimagegn & Tirivayi, Nyasha, 2020. "Crop diversity, household welfare and consumption smoothing under risk: Evidence from rural Uganda," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    8. Renata Baborska & Emilio Hernandez & Emiliano Magrini & Cristian Morales-Opazo, 2020. "The impact of financial inclusion on rural food security experience: A perspective from low-and middle-income countries," Review of Development Finance Journal, Chartered Institute of Development Finance, vol. 10(2), pages 1-18.
    9. Dercon, Stefan & Christiaensen, Luc, 2011. "Consumption risk, technology adoption and poverty traps: Evidence from Ethiopia," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(2), pages 159-173, November.
    10. Larson, Donald F. & Gurara, Daniel Zerfu, 2013. "A conceptual model of incomplete markets and the consequences for technology adoption policies in Ethiopia," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6681, The World Bank.
    11. Yonas Alem & Jonathan Colmer, 2022. "Blame it on the rain: Rainfall variability, consumption smoothing, and subjective well‐being in rural Ethiopia," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 104(3), pages 905-920, May.
    12. C. Rashaad Shabab, 2021. "Local droughts and income risk among Thai households," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(4), pages 2084-2112, November.
    13. World Bank, 2010. "Improving Water Management in Rainfed Agriculture : Issues and Options in Water-Constrained Production Systems," World Bank Publications - Reports 13028, The World Bank Group.
    14. van den Berg, Marrit & Fort, Ricardo & Burger, Kees, 2009. "Natural Hazards And Risk Aversion: Experimental Evidence From Latin America," 2009 Conference, August 16-22, 2009, Beijing, China 51394, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    15. Mariapia Mendola, 2004. "Migration and Technological Change in Rural Households: Complements or Substitutes?," Development Working Papers 195, Centro Studi Luca d'Agliano, University of Milano.
    16. Jin, Ling & Chen, Kevin Z. & Yu, Bingxin & Filipski, Mateusz, 2015. "Farmers' Coping Strategies against an Aggregate Shock: Evidence from the 2008 Sichuan Earthquake," 2015 Conference, August 9-14, 2015, Milan, Italy 211814, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    17. Letta, Marco & Montalbano, Pierluigi & Tol, Richard S.J., 2018. "Temperature shocks, short-term growth and poverty thresholds: Evidence from rural Tanzania," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 13-32.
    18. Rie Muraoka & Tomoya Matsumoto & Songqing Jin & Keijiro Otsuka, 2016. "On the Possibility of a Maize Green Revolution in the Highlands of Kenya: An Assessment of Emerging Intensive Farming Systems," Natural Resource Management and Policy, in: Keijiro Otsuka & Donald F. Larson (ed.), In Pursuit of an African Green Revolution, edition 1, chapter 0, pages 145-164, Springer.
    19. Wakeyo, Mekonnen B. & Gardebroek, Cornelis, 2013. "Does water harvesting induce fertilizer use among smallholders? Evidence from Ethiopia," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 54-63.
    20. Turvey, C. G., 2017. "IFAD RESEARCH SERIES 10 - Inclusive finance and inclusive rural transformation," IFAD Research Series 280048, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Fertiliser adoption; Rainfall; Highlands of Ethiopia; Panel data;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes
    • Q12 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Micro Analysis of Farm Firms, Farm Households, and Farm Input Markets
    • Q16 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - R&D; Agricultural Technology; Biofuels; Agricultural Extension Services
    • Q54 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Climate; Natural Disasters and their Management; Global Warming

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:hhs:gunwpe:0337. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Ann-Christin Räätäri Nyström (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/naiguse.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.