Fertilizer management in smallholder cocoa farms of Indonesia under variable climate and market prices

Munir P. Hoffmann, James Cock, Marianne Samson, Noel Janetski, Kate Janetski, Reimund P. Rötter, Myles Fisher and Thomas Oberthür

Agricultural Systems, 2020, vol. 178, issue C

Abstract: Cocoa yields on the smallholder farms of Sulawesi are <500 kg/ha, yet, attainable yields are substantially higher. Seventy-three on farm trials were established in Sulawesi, Indonesia, to determine how farmers could optimize their fertilizer management considering both, factors under their control and factors beyond their control, such as the weather. The farmers, who were divided into four groups, had all been trained in Good Agricultural Practices (GAP). Two inorganic fertilizer regimes were compared on the farms that were all supposed to be using GAP. The trials for each group were run for 2 years, with different groups monitored over distinct periods with varying weather conditions, over a 4-year period from 2013 to 2016. Striking variations in farmer yields within groups under similar conditions were attributed to unexpectedly large variations in management. The percentage increase in yield due to fertilizer application was about 34% across all management levels and weather conditions, but the absolute yield increase was greater when weather conditions and management were favorable. Net financial returns to fertilizer applications in years with unfavorable weather and farms with poor management were negative.

Keywords: Theobroma cacao; Bean yield; Fertilizer application; El Niño; 4R nutrient stewardship; Bean size; On-farm research (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308521X18301665
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:agisys:v:178:y:2020:i:c:s0308521x18301665

DOI: 10.1016/j.agsy.2019.102759

Access Statistics for this article

Agricultural Systems is currently edited by J.W. Hansen, P.K. Thornton and P.B.M. Berentsen

More articles in Agricultural Systems from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().