Profitability of Fertilizer: Experimental Evidence from Female Rice Farmers in Mali

Lori G. Beaman; Dean Karlan; Bram Thuysbaert; Christopher Udry

doi:10.1257/aer.103.3.381

American Economic Review Vol. 103 No. 3 2013

Profitability of Fertilizer: Experimental Evidence from Female Rice Farmers in Mali

Lori G. Beaman¹; Dean Karlan²; Bram Thuysbaert³; Christopher Udry²

¹ Department of Economics, Northwestern University, 2001 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL 60208. · ² Department of Economics, Yale University, Box 208269, New Haven, CT 06520-8269. · ³ Innovations for Poverty Action, 66 bis Avenue Jean Moulin, 75014 Paris, France.

Abstract

We conducted an experiment providing fertilizer grants to female rice farmers in Mali. We found that women who received fertilizer used both more fertilizer and more complementary inputs such as herbicides and hired labor. This shows that farmers respond to an increase in one input by re-optimizing other inputs. Second, while the increase in inputs led to a considerable increase in output, we found no evidence that profits increased. Our results suggest that fertilizer's impact on profits is small compared to other sources of variation. This may make it difficult for farmers to learn about the returns to fertilizer.

DOI: 10.1257/aer.103.3.381
Volume: 103
Issue: 3
Pages: 381-386
Language: en
Sources: bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex crossref

Profitability of Fertilizer: Experimental Evidence from Female Rice Farmers in Mali

Abstract

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