IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/fpr/ifprid/1360.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Examining the sense and science behind Ghana’s current blanket fertilizer recommendation:

Author

Listed:
  • Chapoto, Antony
  • Tetteh, Francis

Abstract

This paper was written to help bolster the case and present visual evidence demonstrating why it is important to seriously consider spatial soil fertility variability in Ghana and to promote area-specific fertilizer recommendations. Using geostatistical analysis of soil samples collected from farmer plots in three districts (Tamale Municipality, Savelugu-Nanton, and West Mamprusi in northern Ghana), the paper analyzes spatial variations in soil fertility. The results clearly show that there are variations in soil pH, organic matter content, and available phosphorous even at the community level, supporting the need for Ghana to seriously consider location-specific fertilizer recommendations.

Suggested Citation

  • Chapoto, Antony & Tetteh, Francis, 2014. "Examining the sense and science behind Ghana’s current blanket fertilizer recommendation:," IFPRI discussion papers 1360, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    • Handle: RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1360
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://cdm15738.contentdm.oclc.org/utils/getfile/collection/p15738coll2/id/128240/filename/128451.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Chapoto, Antony & Ragasa, Catherine, 2013. "Moving in the right direction? Maize productivity and fertilizer use and use intensity in Ghana:," IFPRI discussion papers 1314, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    2. Guo, Zhe & Koo, Jawoo & Wood, Stanley, 2009. "Fertilizer profitability in East Africa: A Spatially Explicit Policy Analysis," 2009 Conference, August 16-22, 2009, Beijing, China 51710, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    3. Fuglie, Keith O. & Rada, Nicholas E., 2013. "Resources, Policies, and Agricultural Productivity in Sub-Saharan Africa," Economic Research Report 145368, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    4. Michael Morris & Valerie A. Kelly & Ron J. Kopicki & Derek Byerlee, 2007. "Fertilizer Use in African Agriculture : Lessons Learned and Good Practice Guidelines," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 6650.
    5. Diao, Xinshen & Sarpong, Daniel Bruce, 2007. "Cost implications of agricultural land degradation in Ghana: An economywide, multimarket model assessment," GSSP working papers 3, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    6. Breisinger, Clemens & Diao, Xinshen & Thurlow, James & Al-Hassan, Ramatu M., 2008. "Agriculture for development in Ghana: New opportunities and challenges," IFPRI discussion papers 784, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    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. Houssou, Nazaire & Chapoto, Anthony, 2015. "Adoption of Farm Mechanization, Cropland Expansion, and Intensification in Ghana," 2015 Conference, August 9-14, 2015, Milan, Italy 211744, International Association of Agricultural Economists.

    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. Estelle Koussoubé & Céline Nauges, 2017. "Returns to fertiliser use: Does it pay enough? Some new evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 44(2), pages 183-210.
    2. Mensah-Bonsu, Akwasi & Sarpong, Daniel Bruce & Al-Hassan, Ramatu & Asuming-Brempong, Samuel & Egyir, Irene S. & Kuwornu, John K. M. & Osei-Asare, Yaw B., 2017. "Intensity of and factors affecting land and water management practices among smallholder maize farmers in Ghana," African Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, African Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 12(2), June.
    3. 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.
    4. ERREYGERS, Guido & FEREDE, Tadele, 2009. "The end of subsistence farming: Growth dynamics and investments in human and environmental capital in rural Ethiopia," Working Papers 2009008, University of Antwerp, Faculty of Business and Economics.
    5. 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).
    6. Murray, Anthony G & Mills, Bradford F, 2014. "Estimating the Resiliency of Zambian Smallholder Farmers: Evidence from a Three-Wave Panel," 2014 Annual Meeting, July 27-29, 2014, Minneapolis, Minnesota 170234, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    7. Barrett,Christopher B. & Sheahan,Megan Britney & Barrett,Christopher B. & Sheahan,Megan Britney, 2014. "Understanding the agricultural input landscape in Sub-Saharan Africa : recent plot, household, and community-level evidence," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7014, The World Bank.
    8. Emmanuel Olatunbosun Benjamin & Oreoluwa Ola & Hannes Lang & Gertrud Buchenrieder, 2021. "Public-private cooperation and agricultural development in Sub-Saharan Africa: a review of Nigerian growth enhancement scheme and e-voucher program," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 13(1), pages 129-140, February.
    9. Liverpool-Tasie, Lenis Saweda, 2012. "Targeted Subsidies and Private Market Participation: An Assessment of Fertilizer Demand in Nigeria:," IFPRI discussion papers 1194, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    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. 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.
    12. Grabowski, Philip P. & Kerr, John M. & Haggblade, Steven & Kabwe, Stephen, 2014. "Determinants of Adoption of Minimum Tillage by Cotton Farmers in Eastern Zambia," Food Security Collaborative Working Papers 188567, Michigan State University, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics.
    13. Adom, Philip Kofi & Adams, Samuel, 2020. "Decomposition of technical efficiency in agricultural production in Africa into transient and persistent technical efficiency under heterogeneous technologies," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    14. 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.
    15. Kremer, Michael & Duflo, Esther & Robinson, Jonathan, 2009. "Nudging Farmers to Utilize Fertilizer: Theory and Experimental Evidence from Kenya," CEPR Discussion Papers 7402, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    16. Tristan Le Cotty & Elodie Maître d’Hôtel & Raphael Soubeyran & Julie Subervie, 2018. "Linking Risk Aversion, Time Preference and Fertiliser Use in Burkina Faso," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 54(11), pages 1991-2006, November.
    17. Hendricks, Nathan P. & Smith, Aaron D. & Villoria, Nelson B., 2018. "Global Agricultural Supply Response to Persistent Price Shocks," 2018 Annual Meeting, August 5-7, Washington, D.C. 274338, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    18. 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.
    19. Dal Belo Leite, João Guilherme & Langa, Felix Mario & von Maltitz, Graham & Lima Verde Leal, Manoel Regis & Barbosa Cortez, Luís Augusto, 2020. "Sugarcane outgrower schemes model: Friend or foe? A question for smallholder farmers in Mozambique," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 19(C).
    20. Aberman, Noora-Lisa & Schiffer, Eva & Johnson, Michael & Oboh, Victor, 2010. "Mapping the policy process in Nigeria," IFPRI discussion papers 1000, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Agricultural production; productivity; fertilizer use; Geographical information systems; Fertilizers; Soil fertility; farm inputs;
    All these keywords.

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:fpr:ifprid:1360. 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: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ifprius.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.