Limited use of fertilizer by African farmers has been a major source of policy concern in Africa. This study assesses the fertilizer adoption responses of food insecure farmers in Malawi. A field experiment, eliciting risk attitudes of farmers, is combined with a detailed farm household survey. A state-contingent production model with rank-dependent utility preferences is estimated. Over-weighting of small probabilities was associated with less use of fertilizer on all maize types and particularly so on the more risky improved maize types. Acknowledgement :