Linking Risk Aversion,Time Preference and Fertiliser Use in Burkina Faso |
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| Authors: | Tristan Le Cotty Elodie Maître d’Hôtel Raphael Soubeyran |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (CIRAD) and Centre International de Recherche sur l’Environnement et le Développement (CIRED), Montpellier, France;2. Centre de coopération internationale en recherche agronomique pour le développement (CIRAD) and Marchés, Organisations, Institutions et Stratégies d’Acteurs (MOISA), Montpellier cedex 5, France;3. French National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA) and Laboratoire Montpelliérain d’Economie Théorique et Appliquée (LAMETA), Montpellier, France |
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| Abstract: | This paper investigates whether Burkinabe maize farmers’ fertiliser-use decisions are correlated with their risk and time preferences. We conducted a survey and a series of hypothetical experiments on a sample of 1500 farmers. We find that more patient farmers do use more fertiliser, but it is only because they plant more maize (a fertiliser-intensive crop) rather than because they use more fertiliser per hectare of maize planted. Conversely, we find no statistically significant link between risk aversion and fertiliser use. We use a simple two-period model, which suggests that risk aversion may indeed have an ambiguous effect on fertiliser use. |
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