IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ags/ccsesa/231372.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Assessment of Fertilizer Policy, Farmers’ Perceptions and Implications for Future Agricultural Development in Nepal

Author

Listed:
  • Raut, Nani
  • Sitaula, Bishal K.

Abstract

This paper assesses the origins of and changes to fertilizer policy in Nepal over a period of time. It assesses farmers’ awareness of the recent changes to the subsidy policy and examines their perceptions of the extension services. This paper looks at the environmental implications of the concentrated application of chemical fertilizer, particularly as far as food security is concerned. Questionnaire surveys, group discussions, a workshop, soil analyses and archival materials were used to collect data for this study. Changes in fertilizer policy have occurred in four different phases: (i) without subsidy; (ii) with subsidy; (iii) with deregulation of fertilizer trade; and (iv) the current phase of subsidies for fertilizer. However, timely and effective fertilizer distribution by the government has always been a problem. Only few farmers (12 %) know about recent changes in the fertilizer policy; most of them (44 %) were satisfied with the new subsidy scheme. Valid proof of land ownership is a requirement for qualifying for subsidized fertilizer, and this makes it difficult for some small farmers who are tenant. The soil analysis indicated a significant decrease in the soil pH as a result of intensified agriculture. One reason is due to the intensive use of chemical fertilizers and the declining use of farmyard manure. The ineffectiveness of the extension services also influences farmers’ use of fertilizer as they are not aware of which fertilizer and how much to use. The use of fertilizer may increase yields in the short term, but in the longer term, it may worsen the food insecurity in the country.

Suggested Citation

  • Raut, Nani & Sitaula, Bishal K., 2012. "Assessment of Fertilizer Policy, Farmers’ Perceptions and Implications for Future Agricultural Development in Nepal," Sustainable Agriculture Research, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 1(2).
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:ccsesa:231372
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.231372
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/231372/files/sar-v1n2-P188_188-200_.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.231372?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. Tomoya Matsumoto & Takashi Yamano, 2010. "The Impacts of Fertilizer Credit on Crop Production and Income in Ethiopia," GRIPS Discussion Papers 10-23, National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies.
    2. Takashi Yamano & Keijiro Otsuka & Frank Place (ed.), 2011. "Emerging Development of Agriculture in East Africa," Springer Books, Springer, number 978-94-007-1201-0, October.
    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. Paudel, Jayash & Crago, Christine L., 2017. "Fertilizer Subsidy and Agricultural Productivity: Empirical Evidence from Nepal," 2017 Annual Meeting, July 30-August 1, Chicago, Illinois 258464, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    2. B. Suresh Reddy, 2015. "Soil Health: Issues and Concerns - A Review," Working Papers id:7599, eSocialSciences.
    3. Ward, Patrick S. & Gupta, Shweta & Singh, Vartika & Ortega, David L. & Gautam, Shriniwas, 2020. "What is the intrinsic value of fertilizer? Experimental value elicitation and decomposition in the hill and terai regions of Nepal," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    4. Ganesh Thapa & Yam Kanta Gaihre & Dyutiman Choudhary & Shriniwas Gautam, 2023. "Does private sector involvement improve the distribution efficiency of subsidized fertilizer? A natural experiment from Nepal," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 54(3), pages 429-446, May.
    5. Yali Zhang & Yihan Wang & Yunli Bai, 2019. "Knowing and Doing: The Perception of Subsidy Policy and Farmland Transfer," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(8), pages 1-15, April.

    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. Ayalew, Hailemariam & Chamberlin, Jordan & Newman, Carol, 2022. "Site-specific agronomic information and technology adoption: A field experiment from Ethiopia," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    2. Sheahan, Megan & Black, Roy & Jayne, T.S., 2013. "Are Kenyan farmers under-utilizing fertilizer? Implications for input intensification strategies and research," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 39-52.
    3. Sheahan, Megan & Black, Roy & Jayne, Thomas S., 2012. "Are Farmers Under-Utilizing Fertilizer? Evidence from Kenya," 2012 Conference, August 18-24, 2012, Foz do Iguacu, Brazil 126739, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    4. Unknown, 2015. "Towards A Sustainable Soil Fertility Strategy in Ghana," Miscellaneous Publications 212898, Michigan State University, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics.
    5. Liverpool-Tasie, Lenis Saweda O. & Omonona, Bolarin T. & Sanou, Awa & Ogunleye, Wale O., 2017. "Is increasing inorganic fertilizer use for maize production in SSA a profitable proposition? Evidence from Nigeria," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 41-51.
    6. Liverpool-Tasie, Lenis Saweda O. & Jayne, Thomas & Muyanga, Milu & Sanou, Awa, 2017. "Are African Farmers Experiencing Improved Incentives To Use Fertilizer?," Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Food Security Policy Research Papers 270632, Michigan State University, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics, Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Food Security (FSP).
    7. Lu, Yi & Xie, Huihua & Xu, Lixin Colin, 2016. "Telecommunication externality on migration: Evidence from Chinese villages," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 77-90.
    8. Todd Benson & Tewodaj Mogues, 2018. "Constraints in the fertilizer supply chain: evidence for fertilizer policy development from three African countries," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 10(6), pages 1479-1500, December.
    9. Rie Muraoka & Tomoya Matsumoto & Songqing Jin & Keijiro Otsuka, 2016. "On the Possibility of a Maize Green Revolution in the Highlands of Kenya: An Assessment of Emerging Intensive Farming Systems," Natural Resource Management and Policy, in: Keijiro Otsuka & Donald F. Larson (ed.), In Pursuit of an African Green Revolution, edition 1, chapter 0, pages 145-164, Springer.
    10. Sheahan, Megan & Barrett, Christopher B., 2017. "Ten striking facts about agricultural input use in Sub-Saharan Africa," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 12-25.
    11. Liverpool-Tasie, Lenis Saweda O. & Ogunleye,Wale Olatunji & Omonona,Bolarin Titus & Sanou,Awa & Liverpool-Tasie, Lenis Saweda O. & Ogunleye,Wale Olatunji & Omonona,Bolarin Titus & Sanou,Awa, 2015. "Is increasing inorganic fertilizer use in Sub-Saharan Africa a profitable proposition ? evidence from Nigeria," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7201, The World Bank.
    12. Abebaw, Degnet & Haile, Mekbib G., 2013. "The impact of cooperatives on agricultural technology adoption: Empirical evidence from Ethiopia," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 82-91.
    13. Otsuka, Keijiro, 2012. "Presidential Address at 27th International Conference of Agricultural Economists, Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil : Food Insecurity, Income Inequality, and the Changing Comparative Advantage in World Agricultur," 2012 Conference, August 18-24, 2012, Foz do Iguacu, Brazil 127068, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    14. Timothy N. Njeru & Yukichi Mano & Keijiro Otsuka, 2016. "Role of Access to Credit in Rice Production in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Case of Mwea Irrigation Scheme in Kenya," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 25(2), pages 300-321.
    15. Keijiro Otsuka & Frank Place, 2013. "Evolutionary Changes in Land Tenure and Agricultural Intensification in Sub-Saharan Africa," GRIPS Discussion Papers 13-22, National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies.
    16. Wouter Zant, 2015. "Why Subsidize Fertilizer if Subsidizing Water is More Effective?," Working Papers 2015/09, Maastricht School of Management.
    17. Vasilaky, Kathryn N. & Islam, Asif M., 2018. "Competition or cooperation? Using team and tournament incentives for learning among female farmers in rural Uganda," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 216-225.
    18. 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.
    19. Keijiro Otsuka, 2012. "Economic Transformation of Agriculture in Asia: Past Performance and Future Prospects," Asian Journal of Agriculture and Development, Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA), vol. 9(1), pages 1-19, June.
    20. DONKOR, Emmanuel & OWUSU-SEKYERE, Enoch & OWUSU, Victor & JORDAAN, Henry, 2016. "Impact Of Row-Planting Adoption On Productivity Of Rice Farming In Northern Ghana," Review of Agricultural and Applied Economics (RAAE), Faculty of Economics and Management, Slovak Agricultural University in Nitra, vol. 19(2), pages 1-10, October.

    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:ccsesa:231372. 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: http://www.ccsenet.org/sar .

    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.