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
2015 Annual Interpretive Summary
There is a need to develop effective nutrient management strategies to reduce the yield gap between farmers fields and locally attainable yields. The objective of the study was to investigate the key factors that are responsible for determining maize productivity in eastern India. The hypotheses was that along with agronomic management practices, the farmers' socio-economic status also a has significant influence on nutrient management decisions and ultimately productivity improvement.
The first step of the study was to survey participating maize farmers for evaluating the important crop management practices and structural constraints for maize productivity in a range of socio-economic settings prevalent on smallholder farms. The survey was conducted with a questionnaire having both socio-economic as well as agronomic parameters in areas with resource challenged and resource rich farmers. Statistical analyses of the survey responses helped identify the key factors responsible for yield improvement across different groups of farmers. In the second year, a rapid farm survey with selected questions was conducted in four distinct agro-ecological zones of eastern India. The study area included farmers with maize cultivation history of more than ten years as well as farmers who are comparatively new to maize cultivation.
Based on the responses to survey questions, farmers were classified and grouped into six different types having variation in socio-economic and agronomic parameters – such as resource endowment capacity, nutrient management practices, etc. Nutrient Expert® (NE) based recommendations were given to all the six groups of farmers. NE and FFP treatments differed in the yield of maize among the six farm types. The NE yields were significantly higher compared to FFP across all the farm types. Traditional maize-growing farmers (farm type 5) achieved the highest maize grain yield, followed by moderately resourceful commercial maize growers (type 1), resource-rich commercial seed producers (type 6), and moderately resourced family farms (type 4). Lower yield was common for growers who are exclusive crop farmers with large holdings and a large family (type 3), and new maize growers (type 2). Compared to the farmers’ practice, average grain yields in NE-based treatment plots increased by 42, 47, 70, 38, 55, and 63% in farm types 1 through 6, respectively. It is important to note that the yield improvement in the NE treatment was due to the balanced and site-specific application of all limiting nutrients, at the right time and through use of the right nutrient sources.