Boundary bunds or piles of stones ? Using farmers' practices in Bolivia to aid soil conservation
Agricultural practice ; Agriculture ; Bolivia ; Crop ; Farm ; Farmer behaviour ; Hill ; Soil conservation ; Terrace ; Water management
Indigenous soil and water conservation practices of farmers provide considerable information on biophysical performances in the field, economic impacts on farm households, and constraints on the adoption or non-adoption of new strategies. Data
farmers there are reluctant to use stone-faced terraces is discussed. - (SLD)
Soil productivity and erosion : biophysical and farmer-perspective assessment for hillslopes
Data on soil biophysical changes and erosion are limited, especially from the farmer's perspective. Field techniques of biophysical assessment of erosion and conservation and their impacts are presented for Sri Lanka, with a focus on Gliricidia
Agricultural productivity ; Agricultural technique ; Agriculture ; Central America ; Farmer behaviour ; Motivation ; Soil conservation ; Sustainable development
Paper focuses on reasons for the non-adoption, at least over the long run, of soil conservation technologies by local farmers. Governments are criticized for promoting expensive structures aimed at soil retention rather than at vegetative cover
. Long-term adoption depends on building community capabilities that permit farmers to experiment and innovate. The results of COSECHA's field studies on farmer productivity and technological adoption are discussed. - (SLD)
Agriculture ; Agroforestry ; Farmer behaviour ; Farming system ; Living conditions ; Nepal ; Participation ; Resource management ; Socio-economic system
AA. argue for a broader definition of agroforestry. In the Nepalese hillsides it involves trees, crops, and livestock ; in other words, the entire farming system in which hill farmers are engaged. Poverty reducing goals of agroforestry have to take
into consideration socioeconomic factors such as the security of access to resources, livelihood strategies, gender roles and division of labor, family member allocation of income and farm products, technological adaptation, local knowledge, and communication
Afforestation ; Agricultural production ; Agriculture ; Asia ; Farming system ; Food security ; Himalaya ; Land management ; Mountain ; Nepal
There is little arable land in the hills and mountains of the Himalayan region, where small, marginal farmers try to eke out a living. A new thinking advocates research in niche based sustainable production systems on marginal lands as part
of the effort to provide food security and sustainable livehoods for such marginal farmers. The International Centre for Integrated Mountains Development's (ICIMOD) afforestation strategies for degraded marginal areas are discussed, with reference to Sikkim
Livelihood strategies and assets of small farmers in the evaluation of soil and water management practices in the temperature inter-Andean valleys of Bolivia
Agricultural productivity ; Agriculture ; Andes ; Bolivia ; Farming system ; Rural life ; Soil conservation ; Technology ; Water management
Discussion of participatory research with farmers (FPR) in hillside environments. A case study is presented of participatory soil and water conservation in the Valles Cruceños in the Department of Santa Cruz, Bolivia. A. finds that local knowledge
Author begins by establishing the parameters of mountain and hillside environments : slope angle and altitude. Then he criticizes First and Second world treatment of hillside farmers. He discusses case studies from China, the Central Andes
, the Indian Himalaya, the Nepali Himalaya, and the northern Thailand hills. He calls for greater understanding and awareness on the part of those who try to assist poverty-driven but resourceful hillside farmers. - (SLD)
individuals farmers can seldom resolve natural resource management problems in the hillsides. CIAT is developing a suite of tools based on geographic information systems (GIS) and participatory methods for poor, rural stakeholders, especially for Central