Government and market initiatives for the governance of fertilizer quality in Vietnam

Emi Kojin, Van Hoang Do, Thiet Nguyen, Yutaka Arimoto, Hong Tu Vo, Yukichi Mano, Duy Can Nguyen and Kazunari Tsukada

No HIAS-E-130, Discussion paper series from Hitotsubashi Institute for Advanced Study, Hitotsubashi University

Abstract: The governance of fertilizer quality is critical to food security, as the prevalence of low-quality fertilizers hinders fertilizer use and stagnates agricultural production. This paper documents and assesses the government and market initiatives to address this issue in Vietnam. We conduct in-depth field interviews with stakeholders and identify three initiatives related to fertilizer quality control in the markets: (1) government regulation and control through licensing, mandatory quality labeling, and random inspections; (2) producer efforts to maintain quality and brand through warranty and dealer certification; and (3) hierarchical social learning, where fertilizer retailers update product assortments based on reputations among farmers, who regularly evaluate fertilizer quality. We highlight the importance of public regulation by discussing how government and market initiatives interact and complement each other.

Keywords: low-quality fertilizer; experience goods; Vietnam (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L15 L51 Q16 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 28 pages
Date: 2023-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-des, nep-dge, nep-mon and nep-opm
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hit:hiasdp:hias-e-130

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