Assessment of Agronomic and Economic Benefits of Fertilizer Use in Maize Production Systems under Variable Farm Size, Climate and Soil Fertility Conditions in Eastern India
Farming in Eastern India is characterized by small landholders. Typically low resource availability to the farmers and low profitability from cereal farming necessitates that inputs, including fertilizer, is used in the most efficient manner to maintain farm profitability in the region. IPNI and it’s partners have recently collected agronomic data from on‐farm nutrient response studies that showed high variability in maize yield response to fertilizer N, P and K across the study region. These data were used to develop the Nutrient Expert (NE) for Maize for South Asia, a decision support tool to implement site specific nutrient management in farmers’ fields. The tool also enables researchers to conduct ex‐ante analysis of nutrient management options, evaluating the economic responses across a range of yield increases based on the resource of the farmer. This project will use NE to conduct ex ante analysis across farm typologies to improve return on investment for maize farmers in Eastern India.
IPNI-2012-IND-521
2014 Annual Interpretive Summary
Socio-economic conditions of smallholder farmers play a major role in fertilizer application decisions in maize. The Rapid Rural Surveys in the present work helped to identify distinct typologies of maize farmers from West Bengal in Eastern India. Farmer-specific fertilizer recommendations from the Nutrient Expert®tool, integrating biophysical and socio-economic determinants, helped improve maize productivity for different farm typologies. Maize farming in eastern India is dominated by smallholder farmers, operating under a wide range of soil, climate and socio-economic conditions. The resources endowed to farmers play an important role in determining profitability of maize production systems. Addressing the low productivity of maize in the region requires identification of yield-limiting factors in different socio-economic settings and characterization of farm typologies for targeting site-specific management interventions. Farm typology recognizes that farmers are not a monolithic group and they face differential constraints in their farming decisions based on their available resources and lifestyle. Grouping farmers within a domain in different typologies is an essential step in realistic evaluation of the constraints and opportunities that exist within farm households for appropriate interventions.
The present study was initiated to identify different typologies of smallholder maize farmers in Eastern India. Farm typologies were determined on the basis of information derived from surveys conducted in Bankura and Malda Districts of West Bengal. The two districts represented two distinct agro-ecological zones of the state and are representative of a large part of eastern India in terms of farmer socio-economic conditions and bio-physical traits of their farmlands. Structured interviews with a standardized questionnaire were conducted in 180 farms (90/district). Survey questionnaires were designed to capture bio-physical, socio-economic and managerial aspects of farming. A database was created from the acquired data, and was processed and screened.
The results obtained highlight that the farm survey is an effective tool in delineating farmer typology. The survey helped identify socio-economic and bio-physical determinants for yield gap and yield variations among farms across growing seasons. Nutrient Expert®(NE)-based fertilizer recommendation for two different farm typologies significantly improved yield and profitability over existing farmers’ fertilization practices with less input cost. This result highlight that NE can successfully increase productivity and profitability of smallholder maize farmers, operating under a wide range of soil, climate and socio-economic conditions.