IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ecl/harjfk/rwp15-033.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Low Quality, Low Returns, Low Adoption: Evidence from the Market for Fertilizer and Hybrid Seed in Uganda

Author

Listed:
  • Bold, Tessa

    (IIES, Stockholm University and Goethe University Frankfurt)

  • Kaizzi, Kayuki C.

    (National Agricultural Research Laboratories, Kampala)

  • Svensson, Jakob

    (IIES, Stockholm University)

  • Yanagizawa-Drott, David

    (Harvard University)

Abstract

To reduce poverty and food insecurity in Africa requires raising productivity in agriculture. Systematic use of fertilizer and hybrid seed is a pathway to increased productivity, but adoption of these technologies remains low. We investigate whether the quality of agricultural inputs can help explain low take-up. Testing modern products purchased in local markets, we find that 30% of nutrient is missing in fertilizer, and hybrid maize seed contains less than 50% authentic seeds. We document that such low quality results in negative average returns. If authentic technologies replaced these low-quality products, average returns for smallholder farmers would be over 50%.

Suggested Citation

  • Bold, Tessa & Kaizzi, Kayuki C. & Svensson, Jakob & Yanagizawa-Drott, David, 2015. "Low Quality, Low Returns, Low Adoption: Evidence from the Market for Fertilizer and Hybrid Seed in Uganda," Working Paper Series rwp15-033, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government.
    • Handle: RePEc:ecl:harjfk:rwp15-033
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://research.hks.harvard.edu/publications/workingpapers/citation.aspx?PubId=9765&type=WPN
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Esther Duflo & Michael Kremer & Jonathan Robinson, 2011. "Nudging Farmers to Use Fertilizer: Theory and Experimental Evidence from Kenya," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(6), pages 2350-2390, October.
    2. Dean Karlan & Robert Osei & Isaac Osei-Akoto & Christopher Udry, 2014. "Agricultural Decisions after Relaxing Credit and Risk Constraints," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 129(2), pages 597-652.
    3. Lori Beaman & Dean Karlan & Bram Thuysbaert & Christopher Udry, 2013. "Profitability of Fertilizer: Experimental Evidence from Female Rice Farmers in Mali," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 103(3), pages 381-386, May.
    4. Andrew D. Foster & Mark R. Rosenzweig, 2010. "Microeconomics of Technology Adoption," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 2(1), pages 395-424, September.
    5. Nkonya, Ephraim & Kaizzi, Crammer & Pender, John, 2005. "Determinants of nutrient balances in a maize farming system in eastern Uganda," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 85(2), pages 155-182, August.
    6. George J. Mailath & Larry Samuelson, 2001. "Who Wants a Good Reputation?," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 68(2), pages 415-441.
    7. Tavneet Suri, 2009. "Selection and Comparative Advantage in Technology Adoption," NBER Working Papers 15346, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Carl Shapiro, 1982. "Consumer Information, Product Quality, and Seller Reputation," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 13(1), pages 20-35, Spring.
    9. Beaman, Lori & Karlan, Dean & Thuysbaert, Bram & Udry, Christopher, 2013. "Probability of Fertilizer: Experimental Evidence from Female Rice Farmers in Mali," Working Papers 111, Yale University, Department of Economics.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Chaoran Chen & Diego Restuccia & Raül Santaeulàlia-Llopis, 2023. "Land Misallocation and Productivity," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 15(2), pages 441-465, April.
    2. Scheiterle, L., 2018. "Soil, striga or subsidies? Determinants of maize productivity in northern Ghana," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 277405, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    3. Rob Kuijpers & Johan Swinnen, 2016. "Value Chains and Technology Transfer to Agriculture in Developing and Emerging Economies," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 98(5), pages 1403-1418.
    4. Kabunga, N. & Bizimungu, E., 2018. "A Latent Class Analysis of Agricultural Technology Use Behavior in Uganda and Implications for Optimal Targeting," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 277007, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    5. Travis J. Lybbert & Gracious Diiro & Dick Kawooya & Sacha Wunsch-Vincent, 2018. "Enhancing Innovation in the Ugandan Agri-Food Sector: Robusta Coffee Planting Material & Tropical Fruit Processing," WIPO Economic Research Working Papers 42, World Intellectual Property Organization - Economics and Statistics Division.
    6. Sara Helen Kaweesa & Hamid El Bilali & Willibald Loiskandl, 2021. "Analysing the socio-technical transition to conservation agriculture in Uganda through the lens of the multi-level perspective," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(5), pages 7606-7626, May.
    7. Charles D. Brummitt & Kenan Huremović & Paolo Pin & Matthew H. Bonds & Fernando Vega-Redondo, 2017. "Contagious disruptions and complexity traps in economic development," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 1(9), pages 665-672, September.
    8. Stefanija Veljanoska, 2022. "Do Remittances Promote Fertilizer Use? The Case of Ugandan Farmers," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 104(1), pages 273-293, January.
    9. Swinnen, Johan & Kuijpers, Rob, 2019. "Value chain innovations for technology transfer in developing and emerging economies: Conceptual issues, typology, and policy implications," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 298-309.
    10. Ozaki, Ryosuke & Tsujimoto, Yasuhiro & Andriamananjara, Andry & Rakotonindrina, Hobimiarantsoa & Sakurai, Takeshi, 2021. "Impact of Information of Expected Effectiveness Based on Soil Quality on Farmers’ Decision of Fertilizer Use: Evidence from Madagascar," 2021 Conference, August 17-31, 2021, Virtual 315272, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    11. Omotilewa, Oluwatoba J. & Ricker-Gilbert, Jacob & Ainembabazi, John Herbert & Shively, Gerald E., 2018. "Does improved storage technology promote modern input use and food security? Evidence from a randomized trial in Uganda," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 176-198.
    12. repec:lic:licosd:42621 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Fairbairn, Anna & Michelson, Hope & Ellison, Brenna & Manyong, Victor, 2016. "Mineral Fertilizer Quality: Implications for Markets and Small Farmers in Tanzania," 2016 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Boston, Massachusetts 236818, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    14. Bizimungu, Emmanuel & Kabunga, Nassul Ssentamu, 2018. "A latent class analysis of improved agro-technology use behavior in Uganda: Implications for optimal targeting," IFPRI discussion papers 1704, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    15. Ashour, Maha & Billings, Lucy & Gilligan, Daniel O. & Hoel, Jessica B. & Karachiwalla, Naureen, 2016. "Do beliefs about agricultural inputs counterfeiting correspond with actual rates of counterfeiting? Evidence from Uganda," IFPRI discussion papers 1552, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    16. Todd Benson & Tewodaj Mogues, 2018. "Constraints in the fertilizer supply chain: evidence for fertilizer policy development from three African countries," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 10(6), pages 1479-1500, December.
    17. Assima, Amidou & Haggblade, Steven & Smale, Melinda, 2017. "Counterfeit Herbicides And Farm Productivity In Mali: A Multivalued Treatment Approach," Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Food Security Policy Research Papers 259563, Michigan State University, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics, Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Food Security (FSP).
    18. Hounkonnou, Dominique & Brouwers, Jan & van Huis, Arnold & Jiggins, Janice & Kossou, Dansou & Röling, Niels & Sakyi-Dawson, Owuraku & Traoré, Mamoudou, 2018. "Triggering regime change: A comparative analysis of the performance of innovation platforms that attempted to change the institutional context for nine agricultural domains in West Africa," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 296-309.
    19. Bisimungu, Emmanuel & Kabunga, Nassul, 2016. "A Latent Class Analysis of agricultural technology adoption behavior in Uganda: Implications for Optimal Targeting," 2016 Fifth International Conference, September 23-26, 2016, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 249347, African Association of Agricultural Economists (AAAE).
    20. Ermias Engida Legesse & Amit Kumar Srivastava & Arnim Kuhn & Thomas Gaiser, 2019. "Household Welfare Implications of Better Fertilizer Access and Lower Use Inefficiency: Long-Term Scenarios for Ethiopia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(14), pages 1-24, July.

    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. Holden, Stein T. & Westberg, Nina Bruvik, 2016. "Exploring technology use under climate risk and shocks through an experimental lens," African Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, African Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 11(01), pages 1-16, March.
    2. Paola Mallia, 2022. "You reap what (you think) you sow? Evidence on farmers’behavioral adjustments in the case of correct crop varietal identification," PSE Working Papers hal-03597332, HAL.
    3. Porteous, Obie, 2020. "Trade and agricultural technology adoption: Evidence from Africa," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    4. Voors, Maarten & Demont, Matty & Bulte, Erwin, 2016. "New Experiments in Agriculture," African Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, African Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 11(01), pages 1-7, March.
    5. Matsumoto, Tomoya, 2014. "Disseminating new farming practices among small scale farmers: An experimental intervention in Uganda," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 43-74.
    6. Bloem, Jeffrey R. & Liverpool-Tasie, Saweda & Adjognon, Serge G. & Dillon, Andrew, 2022. "Private Sector Promotion of Climate-Smart Technologies: Experimental Evidence from Nigeria," 2022 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Anaheim, California 322152, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    7. Nazziwa-Nviiri, L. & Van Campenhout, Bjorn & Amwonya, D., 2017. "Stimulating agricultural technology adoption lessons from fertilizer use among Ugandan potato farmers," IFPRI discussion papers 1608, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    8. David Alfaro‐Serrano & Tanay Balantrapu & Ritam Chaurey & Ana Goicoechea & Eric Verhoogen, 2021. "Interventions to promote technology adoption in firms: A systematic review," Campbell Systematic Reviews, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 17(4), December.
    9. Keiko Fukumori & Ayumi Arai & Tomoya Matsumoto, 2022. "Risk Management for Smallholder Farmers: An Empirical Study on the Adoption of Weather-Index Crop Insurance in Rural Kenya," Working Papers 230, JICA Research Institute.
    10. Teresa Molina Millán & Karen Macours, 2017. "Attrition in randomized control trials: Using tracking information to correct bias," FEUNL Working Paper Series novaf:wp1702, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Faculdade de Economia.
    11. Richard A. Gallenstein & Khushbu Mishra & Abdoul G. Sam & Mario J. Miranda, 2019. "Willingness to Pay for Insured Loans in Northern Ghana," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 70(3), pages 640-662, September.
    12. B Kelsey Jack, "undated". "Market Inefficiencies and the Adoption of Agricultural Technologies in Developing Countries," CID Working Papers 50, Center for International Development at Harvard University.
    13. Martin Nordin & Sören Höjgård, 2017. "An evaluation of extension services in Sweden," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 48(1), pages 51-60, January.
    14. Terrance Hurley & Jawoo Koo & Kindie Tesfaye, 2018. "Weather risk: how does it change the yield benefits of nitrogen fertilizer and improved maize varieties in sub‐Saharan Africa?," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 49(6), pages 711-723, November.
    15. 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.
    16. Jie Bai, 2016. "Melons as Lemons: Asymmetric Information, Consumer Learning and Seller Reputation," Natural Field Experiments 00540, The Field Experiments Website.
    17. Wong, Ho Lun & Wei, Xiangdong & Kahsay, Haftom Bayray & Gebreegziabher, Zenebe & Gardebroek, Cornelis & Osgood, Daniel E. & Diro, Rahel, 2020. "Effects of input vouchers and rainfall insurance on agricultural production and household welfare: Experimental evidence from northern Ethiopia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    18. Bonjean, I., 2018. "Heterogeneous return from Agricultural Innovation Adoption: The Role of the price effect," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 277257, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    19. Bjorn Van Campenhout & David J. Spielman & Els Lecoutere, 2021. "Information and Communication Technologies to Provide Agricultural Advice to Smallholder Farmers: Experimental Evidence from Uganda," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 103(1), pages 317-337, January.
    20. Gashaw Tadesse Abate & Tanguy Bernard & Alan de Brauw & Nicholas Minot, 2018. "The impact of the use of new technologies on farmers’ wheat yield in Ethiopia: evidence from a randomized control trial," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 49(4), pages 409-421, July.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • O13 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Agriculture; Natural Resources; Environment; Other Primary Products
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes
    • Q16 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - R&D; Agricultural Technology; Biofuels; Agricultural Extension Services

    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:ecl:harjfk:rwp15-033. 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: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ksharus.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.