This book synthesizes existing information on the adoption of natural resource management investments and strategies (such as soil fertility improvements or erosion control) for agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa. It also critically examines current analytical methods and generates research and...

This paper presents an overview of the present situation of natural resource management (NRM) in African agriculture, as well as the historical context and current options for improved NRM. A summary of the key issues and previous findings in the literature is also presented.

This paper draws together lessons learned as to how governments and donors might stimulate necessary investment in improved natural resource management (NRM) in African agriculture. Policy interventions to support improved NRM are presented. These policy interventions are built on 5 points:...

This paper aims to generate insight into the characteristics and effects of social capital and social learning in fostering more ecologically sustainable natural resource management. The paper begins its discussions by elaborating the concept of social capital and highlighting relations between...

This paper argues that both the knowledge of rural people and that of scientists and agricultural researchers have their limits. Using the example of Malawi, the paper discusses the promise and limits of knowledge among farmers, on the one hand, and among agricultural researchers and extension...

A farm level study on the adoption (and adaptation) of alley farming was conducted in Nigeria between July and September 1996. Two hundred and twenty-three farmers were surveyed in 14 villages, 142 in the southwest and 81 in the southeast. Results suggest a number of socioeconomic factors that...

This paper tests the hypotheses that market imperfections and poverty are important determinants of farm households' incentives to conserve their own land. This issue is explored by asking peasants about their willingness to pay (WTP) to sustain the productivity of their own land and by analysing...

This paper attempts to identify the determinants of farmer investments in agricultural intensification in Rwanda and to examine how these determinants either constrain or enable farmer investment strategies. Particular attention is given to soil conservation investments, use of organic matter,...

This paper shows that, under certain conditions (i.e., land availability and unaffordable fertilizer), improved fallows are potentially gender-neutral, scale-neutral soil-fertility technologies adoptable by women as well as by men, and by the poor and food-insecure as well as the food secure. The...

The main contention of this paper is that the adoption of natural resource management techniques that require an investment in cash or other resources depends not simply on the absolute profitability of the investment, but also on its relative profitability within the diverse activities undertaken...