This paper outlines the role of improved soil fertility in the process of structural transformation, and examines specific financial, economic, social, and political arguments in favor of promoting increased fertilizer use, particularly in smallholder farming systems. This paper draws...

This paper presents a financial and risk analysis of improved versus traditional maize production technology in Ethiopia, based on yields simulated with the CERES-Maize crop growth model (Schulthess and Ward, 2000). The purpose is to analyze the potential performance of the SG2000/Ministry of...

For African agricultural productivity to improve, governments and donors must invest in programs and policies that will improve the incentives and capacity of farmers to make investments that increase farm productivity and soil fertility while protecting the environment. With rapid population...

A wide variety of multilateral and bilateral agencies, private sector firms, and African governments have a need for high quality, reliable data on agricultural productivity. This paper identifies numerous situations where poor data lead to incorrect estimates of African land and labor...