Although Uganda has poor soils with low organic matter, fertiliser is not widely adopted, especially
by female-headed households. Thus we examine the role of gender in inorganic fertiliser adoption
using a national household survey. We estimate separate models for female- and male-headed
households to ascertain if the drivers of adoption differ by gender. With respect to male-headed
households, we find the number of extension visits, age of head of household, and non-farm
earnings significant, but education and distance to market insignificant. With respect to femaleheaded
households, we find education and distance to market significant, but the number of
extension visits, age of head of household and non-farm earnings insignificant. Our results are
robust in that they hold using parametric as well as semiparametric single index models. These
findings suggest that different policies may be needed to incentivise fertiliser adoption by male- and
female-headed households.