Malawi is often described as a country that faces increasing soil deterioration exacerbated by climate change, which affects crop productivity and food security. Research and development efforts to improve food security through restoration of soil fertility have included promotion of nitrogen fixing trees or fertilizer trees in food farming systems. This working paper provides evidence of the causal impact of the adoption of fertilizer trees on food security on smallholder farmers in Malawi. The impact assessment methodology used an Endogenous Switching Regression model that accounts for selection bias. The main drivers of the decision to adopt fertilizer trees include households’ perception of land degradation, training on agroforestry and farm assets. Results of the impact assessment model show evidence that fertilizer trees improve food security for adopters in maize-based mixed farming systems through increased in average value of food production and maize productivity. Policies that address barriers to adoption of fertilizer trees and scale up adoption of these technologies will be beneficial to restore soil fertility in degraded land and improve food security of smallholder farmers.
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5716/WP16013.PDFAltmetric score:
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Publication year
2016
Authors
Coulibaly Y J; Chiputwa, B.; Nakelse T; Kundhlande, G.
Language
English
Geographic
Malawi
