One of the policy measures adopted in the recent past by the government of Tanzania during the implementation of the Agricultural Sector Development Program and the Kilimo Kwanza Strategy is a subsidy to fertilizer and other agricultural inputs through the Voucher system
Farmers who are the beneficiaries of these subsidies were expected to increase productivity and production level, and hence reducing extensive farming/shifting cultivation. This study is an attempt to evaluate the effects of the fertilizer subsidy on the output of cereal crops (maize and paddy) and conservation of land as result of land-sparing in Tanzania. The proposed study will estimate production function to analyze the effect of subsidy on output of the cereals produced, including estimation of the relationship of land spared from farming and increase of yield as result of fertilizer use. The study will be conducted in two regions in Tanzania, namely, Ruvuma and Tabora. The two study cases indicates the regions with highest and the lowest fertilizer users. Data will be collected by survey on farmers, traders on food crops, and fertilizer dealers in the study area.
