Land degradation is a severe problem in the densely populated highlands of East Africa and elsewhere on the African continent. Soil erosion resulting from cultivation on steeply sloping terrain, mining of soil fertility due to continuous cultivation with limited application of inorganic or…

This book includes a series of studies of income strategies, land use, and agricultural dynamics and their impacts on welfare and natural resources in the highlands of Ethiopia, Kenya, and Uganda. There are several reasons for focusing on the highlands. First, the complex problems of severe…

In the recent past, the image of agricultural and environmental crises in Sub- Saharan Africa (SSA) has become increasingly common. Soil erosion and soil fertility loss are considered to be negatively affecting the productive capacity of the agricultural systems (Giller et al. 1997; Sanchez et…

Because of changes in some underlying factors, land is increasingly becoming a source of conflicts in Africa. We estimate the determinants of land conflicts and their impacts on input application in Kenya by using a recent survey of 899 rural households. We find that widows are about 13 percent…

This paper makes a case for increased policy attention to pastoralists in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The paper presents:estimates of the numbers of agro-/pastoral populations globallytheir livestock and their contribution to national economiesthe incidence of poverty among agro-/pastoral…

Following the example of Tiffen et al. on Machakos, Kenya, new macro-based evidence was collected in Machakos, the neighbouring Kitui district and in Benin, Cameroon and the Philippines, to assess the factors à la Boserup, inducing transitions towards sustainable land management, such as…