Targeting soil acidity investments at scale in Kenya
Soil acidity is a long-recognized one of the many constraints to agricultural production in Kenya and has motivated extensive agronomic research on crop and soil responses to liming. However, the use of agricultural lime remains limited on smallholder farms, even in areas where soil acidity is sever...
| Autores principales: | , , , |
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| Formato: | Informe técnico |
| Lenguaje: | Inglés |
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CIMMYT
2025
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| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/179699 |
| _version_ | 1855535485492920320 |
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| author | Gebrekidan, Bisrat Gebrekidan Chamberlin, Jordan Madaga, Lavinia Silva, João Vasco |
| author_browse | Chamberlin, Jordan Gebrekidan, Bisrat Gebrekidan Madaga, Lavinia Silva, João Vasco |
| author_facet | Gebrekidan, Bisrat Gebrekidan Chamberlin, Jordan Madaga, Lavinia Silva, João Vasco |
| author_sort | Gebrekidan, Bisrat Gebrekidan |
| collection | Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace) |
| description | Soil acidity is a long-recognized one of the many constraints to agricultural production in Kenya and has motivated extensive agronomic research on crop and soil responses to liming. However, the use of agricultural lime remains limited on smallholder farms, even in areas where soil acidity is severe. High lime costs are frequently cited as a barrier to adoption, yet most targeting efforts continue to rely primarily on soil property maps without explicit consideration of the economic returns to liming investments at the farm scale. In this paper, we apply a spatially explicit ex ante targeting framework that integrates soil acidity indicators, crop response modelling, spatial variation in input and output prices, and heterogeneity in farm productivity to assess the economic viability of liming across Kenya. Using high resolution spatial data, we generate location specific estimates of acidity related yield losses, lime requirements, and both short run and multi-year economic returns to remediation. Our results show that while soil acidity is widespread in Kenya’s major agricultural regions, economically viable opportunities for liming are far more spatially concentrated. Predicted agronomic yield responses occur across large areas, but positive economic returns emerge only under specific combinations of lime requirements, baseline productivity, and price conditions. Returns also vary substantially within locations across farms and initial productivity levels. These findings highlight the importance of integrating biophysical and economic information to guide the design and targeting of soil acidity interventions in Kenya. |
| format | Informe técnico |
| id | CGSpace179699 |
| institution | CGIAR Consortium |
| language | Inglés |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| publishDateRange | 2025 |
| publishDateSort | 2025 |
| publisher | CIMMYT |
| publisherStr | CIMMYT |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | CGSpace1796992026-01-13T02:12:51Z Targeting soil acidity investments at scale in Kenya Gebrekidan, Bisrat Gebrekidan Chamberlin, Jordan Madaga, Lavinia Silva, João Vasco targeting soil ph agricultural lime crop modelling agricultural production economic viability Soil acidity is a long-recognized one of the many constraints to agricultural production in Kenya and has motivated extensive agronomic research on crop and soil responses to liming. However, the use of agricultural lime remains limited on smallholder farms, even in areas where soil acidity is severe. High lime costs are frequently cited as a barrier to adoption, yet most targeting efforts continue to rely primarily on soil property maps without explicit consideration of the economic returns to liming investments at the farm scale. In this paper, we apply a spatially explicit ex ante targeting framework that integrates soil acidity indicators, crop response modelling, spatial variation in input and output prices, and heterogeneity in farm productivity to assess the economic viability of liming across Kenya. Using high resolution spatial data, we generate location specific estimates of acidity related yield losses, lime requirements, and both short run and multi-year economic returns to remediation. Our results show that while soil acidity is widespread in Kenya’s major agricultural regions, economically viable opportunities for liming are far more spatially concentrated. Predicted agronomic yield responses occur across large areas, but positive economic returns emerge only under specific combinations of lime requirements, baseline productivity, and price conditions. Returns also vary substantially within locations across farms and initial productivity levels. These findings highlight the importance of integrating biophysical and economic information to guide the design and targeting of soil acidity interventions in Kenya. 2025-12-25 2026-01-12T15:47:26Z 2026-01-12T15:47:26Z Report https://hdl.handle.net/10568/179699 en Open Access application/pdf CIMMYT CGIAR Gebrekidan, B., Chamberlin, J., Madaga L., & Silva, J. V. (2025). Targeting soil acidity investments at scale in Kenya. CIMMYT & CGIAR. https://hdl.handle.net/10883/36652 |
| spellingShingle | targeting soil ph agricultural lime crop modelling agricultural production economic viability Gebrekidan, Bisrat Gebrekidan Chamberlin, Jordan Madaga, Lavinia Silva, João Vasco Targeting soil acidity investments at scale in Kenya |
| title | Targeting soil acidity investments at scale in Kenya |
| title_full | Targeting soil acidity investments at scale in Kenya |
| title_fullStr | Targeting soil acidity investments at scale in Kenya |
| title_full_unstemmed | Targeting soil acidity investments at scale in Kenya |
| title_short | Targeting soil acidity investments at scale in Kenya |
| title_sort | targeting soil acidity investments at scale in kenya |
| topic | targeting soil ph agricultural lime crop modelling agricultural production economic viability |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/179699 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT gebrekidanbisratgebrekidan targetingsoilacidityinvestmentsatscaleinkenya AT chamberlinjordan targetingsoilacidityinvestmentsatscaleinkenya AT madagalavinia targetingsoilacidityinvestmentsatscaleinkenya AT silvajoaovasco targetingsoilacidityinvestmentsatscaleinkenya |