This article investigates the effects of wheat genetic diversity and land degradation on risk and agricultural productivity in less favored production environments of a developing agricultural economy. Drawing production data from a household survey conducted in the highlands of Ethiopia, we estimate a stochastic production function to evaluate the effects of variety richness, land degradation, and their interaction on the mean and the variance of wheat yield. Ethiopia is a center of diversity for durum wheat and farmers manage complex variety mixtures on multiple plots.

This paper investigates the patterns and determinants of change in income strategies ("development pathways"), land management, resource and human welfare conditions in Uganda since 1990, based upon a community-level survey conducted in 107 villages. Six dominant development pathways were found, all but one of which involved increasing specialization in already dominant activities. Of these, expansion of banana and coffee production was most associated with adoption of resource-conserving practices and improvements in resource conditions and welfare.