Off-farm Employment and Input Intensification among Smallholder Maize Farmers in Kenya

Abstract

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.