Browsing by Author "Smale, Melinda"

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    Off-farm Employment and Input Intensification among Smallholder Maize Farmers in Kenya
    (Egerton University, 2014-09) Mathenge, Mary K.; Smale, Melinda; Tschirley, David
    We derive input demand functions for fertiliser and hybrid seed, testing for the combined and separate effects of income from non-farm sources and agricultural wage labour among smallholder maize farmers in Kenya. More income from offfarm sources, and specifically non-farm sources, competes with maize intensification, particularly in more productive areas where use rates are higher. In less productive areas, where households rely more on off-farm income and input use in maize is extremely low, agricultural wage labour reduces the likelihood that fertiliser is applied, but when used, has a positive effect on quantities purchased of both seed and fertiliser. Keywords: fertiliser; hybrid maize; input intensification; Kenya; off-farm work.