Estancamiento tecnológico en el sector agrícola argentino: el caso de la fertilización del maíz

Abstract

Argentina is one of the only major corn producers where that crop is grown without chemical fertilization, with resulting yields of the order of half the ones obtained in the United States. In this paper we try to isolate some of the limiting factors to the use of fertilizers, to determine which are the production conditions under which their use may be economical, to evaluate what is the economic risk incurred in using them and to spell out what implications do these finding have for agronomic research, extension and economic policy. We develop for this purpose a method to quantify risk in the context of production functions. We find that it is possible to use fertilizers profitably in soils of depleted fertility even under the present price conditions, and that this possibility would extend to more than half of the present corn acreage and to a large majority of producers if nitrogen prices would fall towards world market levels.