IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ags/afjare/163555.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

To what extent do fertiliser subsidies improve household income and reduce poverty? The case of Malawi

Author

Listed:
  • Mkwara, Bentry

Abstract

In a number of sub-Saharan African countries, farm input subsidies are currently implemented in order to stimulate farm-level fertiliser application, enhance food security, improve household income and alleviate poverty. In this paper, a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model and the Foster, Greer and Thorbecke (FGT) method are employed to explore the extent to which fertiliser subsidies improve household income and reduce poverty in Malawi. Modelling results suggest that fertiliser subsidies lead to small increases in income distribution of all agricultural households. Rural non-agricultural households experience reductions in their incomes, while there are no income changes for metro households. The results of the FGT decomposition of poverty suggest that the subsidies help to reduce income poverty for rural and urban agricultural households, as well as for urban non-agricultural households. However, the poverty situation of rural non-agricultural households worsens, while no poverty changes occur in the case of metro households.

Suggested Citation

  • Mkwara, Bentry, 2013. "To what extent do fertiliser subsidies improve household income and reduce poverty? The case of Malawi," African Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, African Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 8(4), pages 1-12, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:afjare:163555
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.163555
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/163555/files/3%20%20Mkwara%20Fertilizer%20subsidies%20_edited_.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.163555?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Chibwana, Christopher & Fisher, Monica & Shively, Gerald, 2012. "Cropland Allocation Effects of Agricultural Input Subsidies in Malawi," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 124-133.
    2. Decaluwe, B. & Patry, A. & Savard, L. & Thorbecke, E., 1999. "Poverty Analysis Within a General Equilibrium Framework," Cahiers de recherche 9909, Université Laval - Département d'économique.
    3. Maureen Kilkenny, 1993. "Rural/Urban Effects of Terminating Farm Subsidies," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 75(4), pages 968-980.
    4. Löfgren, Hans, 2001. "A CGE model for Malawi: Technical documentation," TMD discussion papers 70, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    5. Foster, James & Greer, Joel & Thorbecke, Erik, 1984. "A Class of Decomposable Poverty Measures," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 52(3), pages 761-766, May.
    6. Poe, Gregory L. & Giraud, Kelly L. & Loomis, John B., 2001. "Simple Computational Methods for Measuring the Difference of Empirical Distributions: Application to Internal and External Scope Tests in Contingent Valuation," Staff Papers 121130, Cornell University, Department of Applied Economics and Management.
    7. Thorbecke, Erik & Jung, Hong-Sang, 1996. "A multiplier decomposition method to analyze poverty alleviation," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(2), pages 279-300, March.
    8. Banful, Afua Branoah, 2011. "Old Problems in the New Solutions? Politically Motivated Allocation of Program Benefits and the "New" Fertilizer Subsidies," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(7), pages 1166-1176, July.
    9. Mapila, Mariam A.T.J. & Njuki, Jemimah M. & Delve, Robert J. & Zingore, Shamie & Matibini, Josephine, 2012. "Determinants of Fertiliser Use by Smallholder Maize Farmers in the Chinyanja Triangle in Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia," 2012 Conference, August 18-24, 2012, Foz do Iguacu, Brazil 123354, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    10. Marenya, Paswel Phiri & Nkonya, Ephraim M. & Xiong, Wei & Rossel, Jose Deustua & Edward, Kato, 2012. "Which would work better for improved soil fertility management in sub-Saharan Africa: Fertilizer Subsidies or Carbon Credits?," 2012 Conference, August 18-24, 2012, Foz do Iguacu, Brazil 126904, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    11. Marenya, Paswel & Nkonya, Ephraim & Xiong, Wei & Deustua, Jose & Kato, Edward, 2012. "Which policy would work better for improved soil fertility management in sub-Saharan Africa, fertilizer subsidies or carbon credits?," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 162-172.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Mwale, Martin Limbikani & Kamninga, Tony Mwenda, 2022. "Land rights and the impact of farm input subsidies on poverty convergence," MPRA Paper 112431, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Van Asselt, Joanna & Grogan, Kelly A., 2020. "Do Fertilizer Subsidies Improve Soil Quality: Myopic vs. Dynamic Analysis of Smallholder Farmers in Ghana," 2020 Annual Meeting, July 26-28, Kansas City, Missouri 304546, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    3. Houssou, Nazaire & Andam, Kwaw S. & Collins, Asante-Addo, 2017. "Can better targeting improve the effectiveness of Ghana's Fertilizer Subsidy Program? Lessons from Ghana and other countries in Africa south of the Sahara," IFPRI discussion papers 1605, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    4. Nicole M. Mason & Ayala Wineman & Solomon T. Tembo, 2020. "Reducing poverty by ‘ignoring the experts’? Evidence on input subsidies in Zambia," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 12(5), pages 1157-1172, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Valbuena, Diego & Tui, Sabine Homann-Kee & Erenstein, Olaf & Teufel, Nils & Duncan, Alan & Abdoulaye, Tahirou & Swain, Braja & Mekonnen, Kindu & Germaine, Ibro & Gérard, Bruno, 2015. "Identifying determinants, pressures and trade-offs of crop residue use in mixed smallholder farms in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 107-118.
    2. Koppmair, Stefan & Kassie, Menale & Qaim, Matin, 2017. "The influence of farm input subsidies on the adoption of natural resource management technologies," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 61(4), October.
    3. Jayne, T.S. & Mason, Nicole M. & Burke, William J. & Ariga, Joshua, 2016. "Agricultural Input Subsidy Programs in Africa: An Assessment of Recent Evidence," Food Security International Development Working Papers 245892, Michigan State University, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics.
    4. Koppmair, Stefan & Kassie, Menale & Qaim, Matin, 2016. "Farm input subsidies and the adoption of natural resource management technologies," 2016 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Boston, Massachusetts 235313, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    5. Jayne, T.S. & Sitko, Nicholas J. & Mason, Nicole M., 2017. "Can Input Subsidy Programs Contribute To Climate Smart Agriculture?," Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Food Security Policy Research Papers 270626, Michigan State University, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics, Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Food Security (FSP).
    6. Chikobola, Musaka M. & Tembo, Gelson, 2018. "Policy brief Gaps in the implementation of the e-voucher system in Zambia: Implications for strategies to make the model efficient and effective," African Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, African Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 13(2), June.
    7. Haider A. Khan, 2007. "Social Accounting Matrix: A Very Short Introduction for Economic Modeling," CIRJE F-Series CIRJE-F-477, CIRJE, Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo.
    8. Khan, Haider A., 1999. "Sectoral Growth and Poverty Alleviation: A Multiplier Decomposition Technique Applied to South Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 27(3), pages 521-530, March.
    9. repec:fpr:ifprib:2012ghienglish is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Nicole M. Mason & Thomas S. Jayne & Nicolas van de Walle, 2017. "The Political Economy of Fertilizer Subsidy Programs in Africa: Evidence from Zambia," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 99(3), pages 705-731.
    11. Luc Savard, 2004. "Poverty and Inequality Analysis within a CGE Framework: a Comparative Analysis of the Representative Agent and Micro-Simulation Approaches," Cahiers de recherche 0412, CIRPEE.
    12. Caesar B. Cororaton & Erwin L. Corong, 2006. "Agriculture-sector Policies and Poverty in the Philippines: a Computable General-Equilibrium (CGE) Analysis," Working Papers MPIA 2006-09, PEP-MPIA.
    13. Dorothée Boccanfuso & Luc Savard, 2005. "Impact Analysis of the Liberalization of Groundnut Production in Senegal: A Multi-household Computable General Equilibrium Model," Cahiers de recherche 05-12, Departement d'économique de l'École de gestion à l'Université de Sherbrooke.
    14. Rizwana Siddiqui & A. R. Kemal, 2006. "Remittances, Trade Liberalisation, and Poverty in Pakistan: The Role of Excluded Variables in Poverty Change Analysis," The Pakistan Development Review, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, vol. 45(3), pages 383-415.
    15. Falconnier, Gatien N. & Descheemaeker, Katrien & Traore, Bouba & Bayoko, Arouna & Giller, Ken E., 2018. "Agricultural intensification and policy interventions: Exploring plausible futures for smallholder farmers in Southern Mali," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 623-634.
    16. Niven Winchester, 2008. "Searching for the Smoking Gun: Did Trade Hurt Unskilled Workers?," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 84(265), pages 141-156, June.
    17. Dorothée Boccanfuso & G. Rodolphe A. Missinhoun & Luc Savard, 2010. "Réformes economiques et croissance pro-pauvre : une application macro-micro aux Philippines," Recherches économiques de Louvain, De Boeck Université, vol. 76(3), pages 257-288.
    18. Wossen, Tesfamicheal & Abdoulaye, Tahirou & Alene, Arega & Feleke, Shiferaw & Ricker-Gilbert, Jacob & Manyong, Victor & Awotide, Bola Amoke, 2017. "Productivity and Welfare Effects of Nigeria's e-Voucher-Based Input Subsidy Program," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 251-265.
    19. Sylvester Amoako Agyemang & Tomáš Ratinger & Miroslava Bavorová, 2022. "The Impact of Agricultural Input Subsidy on Productivity: The Case of Ghana," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 34(3), pages 1460-1485, June.
    20. Dorothée Boccanfuso & Antonio Estache & Luc Savard, 2007. "Electricity Reforms in Senegal: A Macro–Micro Analysis of the Effects on Poverty and Distribution," Cahiers de recherche 07-12, Departement d'économique de l'École de gestion à l'Université de Sherbrooke.
    21. Céline DE QUATREBARBES & Luc SAVARD & Dorothée BOCCANFUSO, 2011. "Can the removal of VAT Exemptions support the Poor? The Case of Niger," Working Papers 201106, CERDI.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ags:afjare:163555. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: AgEcon Search (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aaaeaea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.