EPAR TECHNICAL REPORT #240
Thu, 07/28/2016
AUTHORS: Allison Kelly, C. Leigh Anderson
ABSTRACT:
There is a wide gap between realized and potential yields for many crops in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Experts identify poor soil quality as a primary constraint to increased agricultural productivity. Therefore, increasing agricultural productivity by improving soil quality is seen as a viable strategy to enhance food security. Yet adoption rates of programs focused on improving soil quality have generally been lower than expected. We explore a seldom considered factor that may limit farmers’ demand for improved soil quality, namely, whether farmers’ self-assessments of their soil quality match soil scientists’ assessments. In this paper, using Tanzania National Panel Survey (TZNPS) data, part of the Living Standards Measurement Study – Integrated Surveys on Agriculture (LSMS-ISA), we compare farmers’ own assessments of soil quality with scientific measurements of soil quality from the Harmonized World Soil Database (HWSD). We find a considerable “mismatch” and most notably, that 11.5 percent of survey households that reported having “good” soil quality are measured by scientific standards to have severely constrained nutrient availability. Mismatches between scientific measurements and farmer assessments of soil quality may highlight a potential barrier for programs seeking to encourage farmers to adopt soil quality improvement activities.
This paper was published in July 2016 in the Journal of Natural Resources and Development.
TYPE OF RESEARCH: Data Analysis
RESEARCH TOPIC CATEGORY: Sustainable Agriculture & Rural Livelihoods; Agricultural Productivity, Yield, & Constraints; Agricultural Inputs & Farm Management
GEOGRAPHIC FOCUS: East Africa Region and Selected Countries
DATASET(S): LSMS & LSMS-ISA. Other Datasets
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