Eash, Lisa, authorFonte, Steven J., advisorKhosla, Raj, committee memberDavis, Jessica G., committee member2019-01-072019-01-072018https://hdl.handle.net/10217/193161In Central America, the population and associated food demands are rising rapidly, while yields of their staple crops, maize and beans, remain low in a global context. To identify the main limiting factors to crop production in the region, field trials were established in six priority maize- and bean-producing regions in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. Potential yield-limiting factors were evaluated in the 2017 growing season and included: nutrient management, irrigation, planting arrangement, and/or pest and disease control. When considering all sites, improved fertilization and pest and disease control significantly improved yields in maize by 11% and 16% respectively, but did not have a significant overall effect in beans. Irrigation had no effect in the year studied, due to sufficient and evenly distributed rainfall over the growing season. Optimized planting arrangement resulted in an average 18% increase in maize yield overall, making it the most promising factor evaluated in this study. However, the effectiveness of each factor varied across sites and no factor was effective at increasing yield consistently across all sites. Increased production was not always associated with net economic gains due to the relatively high costs of inputs and technology in the region. The study demonstrated that production constraints are highly dependent on local management practices and agroecological context. Therefore, public and private development efforts that seek to increase production should seek to identify site-specific limitations pertinent to each area in question.born digitalmasters thesesengCopyright and other restrictions may apply. User is responsible for compliance with all applicable laws. For information about copyright law, please see https://libguides.colostate.edu/copyright.El SalvadorHondurascrop productivityproduction constraintsGuatemalaText