Rights statement: This is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Ecological Economics. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Ecological Economics, 144, 2017 DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2017.08.010
Accepted author manuscript, 556 KB, PDF document
Available under license: CC BY-NC-ND: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License
Final published version
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Fertilizer Adoption by Smallholders in the Brazilian Amazon
T2 - Farm-level Evidence
AU - Morello, Thiago Fonseca
AU - Piketty, Marie-Gabrielle
AU - Gardner, Toby
AU - Parry, Luke
AU - Barlow, Jos
AU - Ferreira, Joice
AU - Tancredi, Nicola S.
N1 - This is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Ecological Economics. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Ecological Economics, 144, 2017 DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2017.08.010
PY - 2018/2
Y1 - 2018/2
N2 - Multiple constraints prevent smallholders from adopting fertilizers even with regional supply of agricultural inputs expanding and soils being weared-out. Using comprehensive farm-level data from the eastern Brazilian Amazon, we found that market proximity had a significant positive correlation with fertilizer adoption, even after controlling for liquidity, land tenure, education, experience and access to rural extension services. Nevertheless, few smallholders completely replaced nutrients from vegetation with fertilizers. Instead, we found that a hybrid system that combines nutrients from vegetation and fertilizers was approximately twice as common as exclusive fertilizer use. We suggest that the option for this diversified “nutrient portfolio” may result not only from a lack of capital or knowledge regarding return on fertilizer use, but also from the need to adapt to the economic constraints facing smallholders and minimize risk. Results indicate that a rural extension program aimed at supporting a rapid and complete replacement of ashes from vegetation by fertilizers could prove unsuccessful for Amazonian smallholders.
AB - Multiple constraints prevent smallholders from adopting fertilizers even with regional supply of agricultural inputs expanding and soils being weared-out. Using comprehensive farm-level data from the eastern Brazilian Amazon, we found that market proximity had a significant positive correlation with fertilizer adoption, even after controlling for liquidity, land tenure, education, experience and access to rural extension services. Nevertheless, few smallholders completely replaced nutrients from vegetation with fertilizers. Instead, we found that a hybrid system that combines nutrients from vegetation and fertilizers was approximately twice as common as exclusive fertilizer use. We suggest that the option for this diversified “nutrient portfolio” may result not only from a lack of capital or knowledge regarding return on fertilizer use, but also from the need to adapt to the economic constraints facing smallholders and minimize risk. Results indicate that a rural extension program aimed at supporting a rapid and complete replacement of ashes from vegetation by fertilizers could prove unsuccessful for Amazonian smallholders.
U2 - 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2017.08.010
DO - 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2017.08.010
M3 - Journal article
VL - 144
SP - 278
EP - 291
JO - Ecological Economics
JF - Ecological Economics
SN - 0921-8009
ER -