Adoption of chemical fertilizer by smallholder farmers in the peanut basin of Senegal
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Farm productivity in the Peanut Basin of Senegal has been declining over time, requiring
strategic interventions to reverse this trend. Using pooled cross-section time-series data and
probit and Tobit models, this paper examines factors that influence the decision whether or
not to use fertilizer (adoption) and the share of land on which fertilizer is used (intensity) in
peanut and millet production. Our results show that the probability of using fertilizer increases
where household heads have higher literacy, larger families and larger farms, but decreases
where they have off-farm income. Fertilizer use is also positively associated with the amount
of rainfall and varies by geographical location. The analysis indicates that both the adoption
and the intensity of use of fertilizer by peanut and millet farmers have been declining over the
study period 1998–2005. Our findings suggest that focusing on market oriented interventions
that motivate farmers to invest in improved agricultural technologies is a sensible policy
option.