Study on fertilizer perception, quality, and use under way in Tanzania
A study has been initiated to dig deeper into factors influencing the use of fertilizers by smallholder farmers in Tanzania and in particular those around quality and pricing issues. The study “Mineral fertilizer quality: implications for smallholder farmers” is being conducted by Anna Fairbairn, an MSc student in Agriculture and Applied Economics at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign under the supervision of Victor Manyong, IITA Director for Eastern Africa.
The study aims to understand farmers’ perceptions on fertilizers and whether these relate to the quality of the fertilizers and to find out whether there’s any relationship between fertilizer price/packaging and quality, and whether farmers are willing to pay for quality fertilizer, said Fairbairn, while presenting on the progress of her research at a seminar at IITA in Dar es Salaam recently.
“Some farmers have very negative perceptions about fertilizers. Some of the farmers we have interviewed told us that fertilizers ruin their soils and also cause yellowing of crops. Others have complained about the quality of the fertilizers in the market. So in addition to understanding farmers’ perceptions, we will also conduct quality tests of the fertilizer in the market to ascertain whether their claims are related to the quality of the fertilizers,” Fairbairn said.
The study is also looking at the fertilizer supply system and will interview agrodealers to understand how and where they source and supply their fertilizers, their quality control measures, and also whether pricing is related to quality.
“Most fertilizers are packed in 50-kg bags but most farmers cannot afford this. Therefore the agrodealers repack the fertilizers in smaller bags. We will find out whether this affects quality and also whether the agrodealers adulterate the fertilizer as they repackage it,” Fairbairn added.
Speaking at the seminar, Manyong said the findings of this study were significant in efforts to encourage and support smallholder farmers to use fertilizers to increase production for food security and to reduce poverty.
The study is being conducted in Mvomero District, Morogoro Region, and has so far interviewed 190 farmers and surveyed 225 agrodealers. Samples of fertilizers have also been collected for quality analysis at the laboratories of the World Agroforesty Centre and CropNuts in Nairobi and Thornton in USA.
The research has been supported financially by the Borlaug Fellowship (USAID and Purdue University) and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
