Sustainable maize intensification through site-specific nutrient management advice: Experimental evidence from Nigeria

There is growing evidence on the impacts of site-specific nutrient management (SSNM) from Asia. The evidence for Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), where SSNM developments are more recent and where conditions concerning soil fertility and fertilizer use differ importantly from those in Asia, is extremely sca...

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Main Authors: Maertens, Miet, Oyinbo, Oyakhilomen, Abdoulaye, Tahirou, Chamberlin, Jordan
Format: Journal Article
Language:Inglés
Published: Elsevier 2023
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/139442
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author Maertens, Miet
Oyinbo, Oyakhilomen
Abdoulaye, Tahirou
Chamberlin, Jordan
author_browse Abdoulaye, Tahirou
Chamberlin, Jordan
Maertens, Miet
Oyinbo, Oyakhilomen
author_facet Maertens, Miet
Oyinbo, Oyakhilomen
Abdoulaye, Tahirou
Chamberlin, Jordan
author_sort Maertens, Miet
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description There is growing evidence on the impacts of site-specific nutrient management (SSNM) from Asia. The evidence for Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), where SSNM developments are more recent and where conditions concerning soil fertility and fertilizer use differ importantly from those in Asia, is extremely scarce. We evaluate a SSNM advisory tool that allows extension agents to generate fertilizer recommendations tailored to the specific situation of an individual farmer’s field, using a three-year randomized controlled trial with 792 smallholder farmers in the maize belt of northern Nigeria. Two treatment arms were implemented: T1 and T2 both provide SSNM information on nutrient use and management, but T2 provides additional information on maize price distributions and the associated variability of expected returns to fertilizer use. We estimate average and heterogenous intent-to-treat effects on agronomic, economic and environmental plot-level outcomes. We find that T1 and T2 lead to substantial increases (up to 116%) in the adoption of good fertilizer management practices and T2 leads to incremental increases (up to 18%) in nutrient application rates, yields and revenues. Both treatments improve low levels of nutrient use efficiency and reduce high levels of greenhouse gas emission intensity, after two years of treatment. Our findings underscore the possibility of a more gradual and sustainable intensification of smallholder agriculture in SSA, as compared with the Asian Green Revolution, through increased fertilizer use accompanied by improved fertilizer management.
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spelling CGSpace1394422025-10-26T12:55:42Z Sustainable maize intensification through site-specific nutrient management advice: Experimental evidence from Nigeria Maertens, Miet Oyinbo, Oyakhilomen Abdoulaye, Tahirou Chamberlin, Jordan technology adoption agricultural extension green revolution fertilizers greenhouse gas emissions There is growing evidence on the impacts of site-specific nutrient management (SSNM) from Asia. The evidence for Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), where SSNM developments are more recent and where conditions concerning soil fertility and fertilizer use differ importantly from those in Asia, is extremely scarce. We evaluate a SSNM advisory tool that allows extension agents to generate fertilizer recommendations tailored to the specific situation of an individual farmer’s field, using a three-year randomized controlled trial with 792 smallholder farmers in the maize belt of northern Nigeria. Two treatment arms were implemented: T1 and T2 both provide SSNM information on nutrient use and management, but T2 provides additional information on maize price distributions and the associated variability of expected returns to fertilizer use. We estimate average and heterogenous intent-to-treat effects on agronomic, economic and environmental plot-level outcomes. We find that T1 and T2 lead to substantial increases (up to 116%) in the adoption of good fertilizer management practices and T2 leads to incremental increases (up to 18%) in nutrient application rates, yields and revenues. Both treatments improve low levels of nutrient use efficiency and reduce high levels of greenhouse gas emission intensity, after two years of treatment. Our findings underscore the possibility of a more gradual and sustainable intensification of smallholder agriculture in SSA, as compared with the Asian Green Revolution, through increased fertilizer use accompanied by improved fertilizer management. 2023-11 2024-02-15T21:05:28Z 2024-02-15T21:05:28Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/139442 en Open Access application/pdf Elsevier Maertens, M., Oyinbo, O., Abdoulaye, T., & Chamberlin, J. (2023). Sustainable maize intensification through site-specific nutrient management advice: Experimental evidence from Nigeria. Food Policy, 121, 102546. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodpol.2023.102546
spellingShingle technology adoption
agricultural extension
green revolution
fertilizers
greenhouse gas emissions
Maertens, Miet
Oyinbo, Oyakhilomen
Abdoulaye, Tahirou
Chamberlin, Jordan
Sustainable maize intensification through site-specific nutrient management advice: Experimental evidence from Nigeria
title Sustainable maize intensification through site-specific nutrient management advice: Experimental evidence from Nigeria
title_full Sustainable maize intensification through site-specific nutrient management advice: Experimental evidence from Nigeria
title_fullStr Sustainable maize intensification through site-specific nutrient management advice: Experimental evidence from Nigeria
title_full_unstemmed Sustainable maize intensification through site-specific nutrient management advice: Experimental evidence from Nigeria
title_short Sustainable maize intensification through site-specific nutrient management advice: Experimental evidence from Nigeria
title_sort sustainable maize intensification through site specific nutrient management advice experimental evidence from nigeria
topic technology adoption
agricultural extension
green revolution
fertilizers
greenhouse gas emissions
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/139442
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AT abdoulayetahirou sustainablemaizeintensificationthroughsitespecificnutrientmanagementadviceexperimentalevidencefromnigeria
AT chamberlinjordan sustainablemaizeintensificationthroughsitespecificnutrientmanagementadviceexperimentalevidencefromnigeria