Researchers have linked poverty in sub-Saharan Africa with poor soil health, but two new Cornell studies find that the recommended practice of applying more fertilizer may not help the poorest farmers.

Two new studies by Chris Barrett, the Steven B. and Janice G. Ashley Professor of Applied Economics and Management at Cornell, and Paswel Marenya, Ph.D. ’08, a lecturer at the University of Nairobi, find flaws in the fertilizer-promotion strategy used by dozens of African countries to improve soil health, crop yields and the wealth of poor farmers. Forty African heads of state had devised plans in 2006 to help farmers in sub-Saharan Africa — one of the poorest regions of the world where soils are often too degraded to reliably grow crops — get better access to soil-enhancing fertilizers by improving roads, increasing access to seasonal credit and improving farmer education on fertilizer use.

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