Soil tests provide information that can help farmers optimize their inputs. This can reduce costs, increase yields and profits, and contribute to sustainable soil health. Yet soil tests are rarely used by small-scale farmers and are typically not offered by extension workers. Instead, high hopes are pinned on a market-based dissemination. In this study, we elicit small-scale farmers’ willingness-to-pay (WTP) for rapid, low-cost soil tests using incentive-compatible auctions. Additionally, we test whether randomized participation in a sustainable soil management training can increase farmers’ WTP. Furthermore, we elicit WTP in an alternative setting by measuring the willingness to contribute to the costs of a soil test kit when entire farmer groups are offered kits containing 50 tests. The average WTP for soil tests amounts to 39% of the market price and is not statistically different if soil tests are offered to groups where free riding is possible. Participants who were exposed to prior training do not exhibit a higher WTP per test. Data collected five months after the WTP experiment indicate an association between soil testing and reduced use of inorganic fertilizers—particularly nitrogen—as well as more sustainable input management in the context characterized by prevalent overuse. Our results can guide the integration of subsidized soil tests into extension programs.
Grimm et al. (Wed,) studied this question.