"Smallholder producers in marginal and semiarid areas of eastern Kenya have not benefited greatly from research investments made in improvement of crops grown in such environments (sorghum, millet, and legumes, including pigeonpea) either by the international community or the national agricultural research system because of poorly developed seed systems. However, informal and local market purchases are the major sources of seed for non-maize cereals and legumes.

Growing recognition that periodic fire is critical for maintaining the health of many rangeland ecosystems and concerns over more frequent catastrophic wildfires have focused attention on prescribed fire as an ecosystem restoration and fuel management tool. In states such as Texas, where most land is privately owned, the level of success of outreach activities aimed at expanding the adoption of specific management practices is influenced by the extent to which landowners' perceptions, interests, and concerns regarding such practices are addressed.

En esta ponencia, se analizan las nuevas orientaciones de las políticas de desarrollo rural, mostrando sus diversas concepciones. De un lado, una concepción agraria, aplicada sectorialmente en la agricultura como eje del desarrollo de las zonas rurales; de otro lado, una concepción territorial, en la que la diversificación de actividades (agrarias y no agrarias) es su principal eje de actuación, y el territorio su ámbito de aplicación. Entre esas dos concepciones giran hoy los debates en torno al desarrollo rural, tanto a nivel de la UE como de los Estados miembros.

In the last three decades, the Borana rangelands of Southern Ethiopia have been deteriorating due to unsustainable utilization. This paper analyses the changes in indigenous range management among the Borana pastoralists and the role of development interventions.The fieldwork was carried out during 2000-2002, following a severe drought. Two locations, Dida Hara and Web, that once were part of a large grazing system with seasonally distinct herd movements, experienced differences in development interventions.

Scattering slash (downed woody materials) after tree removal is increasingly prescribed by land managers as a treatment to promote the establishment and growth of understory vegetation in pinyon-juniper woodlands. However, the effects of scattering slash on soil resources and plant communities are poorly understood and often confounded with the release from tree competition.