1 Why don’t farmers use fertilizers: 2 Evidence from Field Experiments in Western Kenya 3 (PRELIMINARY AND INCOMPLETE) 4 April 29, 2006 5 6 Esther Duflo, Michael Kremer and Jonathan Robinson 7 8 9 Abstract 10 11 This paper reports on randomized field experiments set up to investigate 12 various reasons for the low usage of fertilizer in Western Kenya. 13 Demonstration plots set up on farmer’s f...

A Bulgarian project at Maritsa East power station demonstrated the proper transformation of air pollutants (SOx and NOx) into nitrogen fertilizer. Although this technology has not been put into practice in Bulgaria, it seems feasible on an industrial scale and so it may help to ease Portugal’s reliance on imports of nitrogen fertilizer and thereby contain the outfl ow of Portuguese funds. The d...

Increased fertilizer input in agricultural systems during the last few decades has resulted in large yield increases, but also in environmental problems. We used data from published papers and a soil testing and fertilization project in Shaanxi province during the years 2005 to 2009 to analyze chemical fertilizer inputs and yields of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and maize (Zea mays L.) on the f...

Farmers in developing countries sometimes receive incorrect and misleading information regarding the fertilizer inputs into food production, especially during crises or times of unusually high demand. In the early 2000’s farmers of Thailand were sold fake fertilizer or advised to apply excessive amounts of fertilizers by fertilizer dealers. The problem was so pervasive that a protocol was devel...

Little information exists on the potential for N fertilizer application to corn ( L.) to affect NO emissions during subsequent unfertilized crops in a rotation. To determine if N fertilizer application to corn affects NO emissions during subsequent crops in rotation, we measured NO emissions for 3 yr (2011-2013) in an Iowa, corn-soybean [ (L.) Merr.] rotation with three N fertilizer rates appli...

Chemical composition of soil organic carbon (SOC) is central to soil fertility. We hypothesize that change in SOC content resulting from various long-term fertilization strategies accompanies the shift in SOC chemical structure. This study examined the effect of fertilization strategies along with the time of fertilizer application on the SOC composition by 13C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) ...

Synthetic nitrogen (N) fertilizer has played a key role in enhancing food production and keeping half of the world's population adequately fed. However, decades of N fertilizer overuse in many parts of the world have contributed to soil, water, and air pollution; reducing excessive N losses and emissions is a central environmental challenge in the 21st century. China's participation is essentia...

Fertilizer is a vital input for agriculture production. With the growing popularity of modern agriculture, fertilizer consumption in Nepal has been increasing over the years. Since, Nepal does not produce any fertilizers, demand for fertilizers are being met through formal and informal imports. Over the years, fertilizer policy changes have been observed several times in a bid to satisfy farmer...

Nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from a maize field in the North China Plain (Wangdu County, Hebei Province, China) were investigated using static chambers during two consecutive maize growing seasons in the 2008 and 2009. The N2O pulse emissions occurred with duration of about 10 days after basal and additional fertilizer applications in the both years. The average N20 fluxes from the CK (control...