Off-farm Work and Fertilizer Intensification among Smallholder Farmers in Kenya: A Cross-Crop Comparison

Mary K. Mathenge, Melinda Smale () and Joseph Opiyo

No 150638, 2013 Annual Meeting, August 4-6, 2013, Washington, D.C. from Agricultural and Applied Economics Association

Abstract: Off-farm work accounts for a substantial and growing share of household income among smallholder farmers in most of Sub-Saharan Africa, but evidence on the effects of these earnings on farm investments remains sparse. We use panel data from a sample of smallholder farmers in Kenya to estimate input demand for fertilizer, testing the effects of earnings from nonfarm activities, agricultural wage labor on other farms, and combined off-farm sources. We compare effects among three types of crops: a major food staple (maize), and emerging cash crop (vegetables), and a traditional export crop (tea). We find that, holding other factors constant, off-farm work detracts from fertilizer application rates on maize and vegetables. Nonfarm income drives these results. Off-farm work has no effect on fertilizer application to tea. Results suggest competition for household resources between farm and nonfarm sectors, with implications for public investments in rural development as Kenyan smallholders commercialize.

Keywords: Agricultural and Food Policy; Farm Management; International Development; Labor and Human Capital (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 32
Date: 2013
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-afr and nep-agr
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:aaea13:150638

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.150638

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