The study reported in this paper measures differences in profitability betweenconservation farming (CF) practices and conventional agriculture by comparing the value ofdifferential output with the differential input costs. The main objective is to address and fillseveral important knowledge gaps by investigating three key features of conservationfarming in Zambia: 1) the process by which CF originated and spread; 2) the scale of CF adoption across household groups and regions; and 3) the impact of CF on crop output, input use, cost of production and farm income.

There have been major shifts/changes in land use patterns in Rwanda over the past twelve years. A few striking observations include: As a percentage of total farmland, cultivated land increased. The increase in cultivated land occurred at the expense of pasture and fallow and woodlot. The share of pasture and fallow decreased from 22% in 1990 to 14% in 2002 and woodlot decreased from 11% in 1990 to 7% in 2002. This trend of increasing cultivated land is apparent from the mid-eighties to today.

This paper evaluates the future impact of soil degradation on national food security and land occupation in Ethiopia. It applies a spatial optimization model that maximizes national agricultural revenues under alternative scenarios of soil conservation, land accessibility and technology. The constraints in the model determine whether people remain on their original site, migrate within their ethnically defined areas or are allowed a transregional migration.

There have been major shifts/changes in land use patterns in Rwanda over the past twelve years. A few striking observations include: As a percentage of total farmland, cultivated land increased. The increase in cultivated land occurred at the expense of pasture and fallow and woodlot. The share of pasture and fallow decreased from 22% in 1990 to 14% in 2002 and woodlot decreased from 11% in 1990 to 7% in 2002. This trend of increasing cultivated land is apparent from the mid-eighties to today.

Severe soil erosion and food security problems are the most important issues in the Loess Plateau of northern China, which are closely related to the over-cultivation and poor management of marginal land resources. Alleviation of these unsustainability problems requires, among many other things, alternative and innovative cropping systems. This paper describes the identification of such cropping systems and their quantitative evaluation.

Econometric and simulation analyses indicate that land degradation does not threaten agricultural productivity growth and food security at the global level, but problems exist in some areas. Improving market performance could reduce erosion-induced yield losses to 0.1 percent per year and the number of hungry people in less-developed countries by 5 percent over 10 years.

De implementatie van de Europese Kaderrichtlijn Water (KRW) is in Nederland de verantwoor-delijkheid van VenW. Omdat de KRW gevolgen kan hebben voor de beleidsterreinen van LNV heeft zij Alterra gevraagd op zeer korte termijn de mogelijke consequenties van de KRW voor de sectoren landbouw, natuur, recreatie en visserij inzichtelijk te maken. Een scenariostudie: op basis van expert-kennis zijn een viertal scenario’s uitgewerkt waarbij alle noodzakelijke stappen om de KRW te realiseren zijn doorlopen.

Soil erosion by water is an old problem in Ethiopia. The prevalence of mountainous and undulating landscapes, coupled with the expansion of arable farming on steep areas due to population pressure have aggravated the soil erosion problem in the country. Prompted by one of the great famines in the country in 1973, the international community and the Ethiopian government began to carry out massive conservation measures that covered extensive areas. Since then, the conservation movement has continued.