Fertilizer Subsidies: A Study Of Policy Effects On Maize In Kenya

The National Accelerated Agricultural Inputs Access Programme(NAAIAP) a subsidy programme established in 2006 was envisioned as a safety net programme that would address the problem of food insecurity and poverty among resource poor farmers. This study using cross-sectional data obtained from 200 farmers employs Linear Regression, Multinomial Logistic and Probit analysis and data from the 2009/2010 agricultural season to estimate the subsidy effects of the NAAIAP program on poor and vulnerable farmers of Tana River Sub-County. To control for errors of inclusion and exclusion the study focused on those farmers who had actually received vouchers. Observations point to predominantly aging male farmers with primary level of education and whose main source of income was farming earning them an average of $1 a day. These Farmers owning on average four(4) acres lack titles to their pieces of land for which only half was utilized for production, had not accessed financial services despite such services being within reach a factor that could be attributed to their lack of collateral and low levels of realized annual incomes from sales though roadside markets and general information asymmetries. Model results show that returns on investments to various income categories from using use of fertilizer is sensitive to residual effects of previous fertilizer application, timing or use of fertilizer during the right season, and communal financial support structures such as group saving. These findings therefore confirm the importance of this study providing deeper insight to policy makersand providing valuable information which has implications on policy, design, targeting and programme implementation.