Discussion Paper No. 309 of 2023 on Leveraging on Adoption of Fertilizer to Boost Small-scale Crop Farming Productivity in Arid and Semi-Arid Lands of Kenya

Abstract

Adoption of fertilizer technology is an important avenue for increasing agricultural productivity and improving the living standards of farmers in the Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASALs) of Kenya. The main objective of the study was to assess the impact of fertilizer adoption on small-scale crop farming productivity in ASALs of Kenya using KIHBS 2015/16 data and probit regression model. The empirical results of the probit regression reveal several significant predictors of fertilizer adoption. Notably, access to fertilizer, access to credit, and land tenure system show statistically significant effects at the 5 per cent level on different aridity while other control variables including gender, age were significant at different aridity. To measure how fertilizer adoption implementation affected crop yield, we employed the propensity score matching (PSM) method. It was noted that adopters of fertilizer technology gained 114 kg more of crop yield per acre of cultivated farms. The paper concludes that simplifying land registration processes and providing legal support would enhance land tenure security. Thus, farmers will be more willing to invest in long-term agricultural technologies such as fertilizers adoption. Also, having an effective credit scheme to make farmers have access to credit and promoting fertilizer accessibility and affordability through enhancement of subsidies and cooperatives initiatives will increase adoption of fertilizer and subsequently boost farm productivity.