Why better seeds reduce fertilizer use efficiency: Hybrid rice, fertilizer subsidies, and offsetting effects on nitrogen demand

About this Event

Please join us for this upcoming ACDE Seminar. Reducing nitrogen fertilizer use while sustaining crop yields remains a key challenge for sustainable agriculture in developing economies. This paper examines how hybrid rice adoption interacts with government fertilizer subsidies to shape nitrogen demand and rice production in China. Using reduced form regressions that treat hybrid rice diffusion as a natural experiment, we show that hybrids lower nitrogen use efficiency NUE yet increase fertilizer application, contrary to standard economic intuition. To explain this pattern, we develop a two agent model in which farmers choose inputs to maximize profits while the government sets nitrogen subsidies to maximize equilibrium rice output. The model predicts that a decline in…

This preview is intentionally limited. Unlock full access to view complete context, speakers, and supporting event materials.