Nudging Boserup? The Impact of Fertilizer Subsidies on Investment in Soil and Water Conservation

The new fertilizer subsidies in sub-Saharan Africa are intended to increase agricultural production and ensure development of a fertilizer market. Fertilizer adoption requires complementary inputs, such as investment in soil and water conservation (SWC), for efficient and optimal nutrient uptake, and many fertilizer subsidy programs implicitly assume that fertilizer subsidies crowd in such investments.

The results of our study of the impact of fertilizer subsidies on SWC efforts in Ghana indicate that beneficiaries of the program do not invest significantly more in SWC. This suggests that policies should not expect farmers to respond to fertilizer subsidies with substantial investment in SWC. Thus, in order to achieve increased investment in SWC for sustainable agricultural development, more comprehensive measures that include fertilizer investments explicitly (such as integrated soil fertility management programs) may be needed.

EfD Authors

PhD candidate Kofi Vondolia Research Associate
Associate Professor Håkan Eggert Research Fellow
Professor Jesper Stage Research Fellow

Keywords

Files

Link to pdf 681.7 kB

Centers

eeu sweden

Type of publication

EfD Discussion paper

Reference

Vondolia, Godwin K., Håkan Eggert, and Jesper Stage, 2012, "Nudging Boserup? The Impact of Fertilizer Subsidies on Investment in Soil and Water Conservation", Environment for Development Discussion Paper Series June 2012, EfD DP 12-08.

Environment for Development

Environment for Development