Allocation and Valuation of Smallholder Maize Residues in Western Kenya

Crop residues, one of smallholder farmers' most common but overlooked resources, serve multiple purposes in many rural households: they are a source of fuel, animal feed, and soil amendments. They are key to maintaining soil fertility, depletion of which is widely considered to be one of the major causes of low food production in Sub-Saharan Africa. Using household survey data from western Kenya, we investigate the contribution of maize residues to smallholders' agricultural production and estimate their shadow value to be 5.94 Kenyan shillings (US$0.07) per kilogram. Valuing crop residue benefits contributes to multiple social goals, including improved economic evaluation of alternative agricultural practices and environmental conservation efforts.