Indigenous soil and water conservation

Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation

Authors

Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation

Date

1997

Language

Type

News Item

Accessibility

Open Access

Metadata

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Citation

CTA. 1997. Indigenous soil and water conservation. Spore 67. CTA, Wageningen, The Netherlands.

Permanent link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/10568/48647

Internet URL: http://collections.infocollections.org/ukedu/en/d/Jcta67e/

Abstract/Description

Sustaining the soil: indigenous soil and water conservation in Africa edited by Chris Reij, Ian Scoones and Camilla Toumlin 1996 260pp ISBN 1 X5383 372 X published by Earthscan Publications Limited and available from CTA who are also supporting t

Notes

practices are rarely acknowledged in the design of conventional development projects. Instead, the history of soil and water conservation in Africa has been one of imposing external solutions without regard for local practice. There is a remarkably diverse range of locally developed and adapted technologies for the conservation of water and soil, well suited to their particular site and socioeconomic conditions. However. such measures have been ignored, and sometimes even overturned, by external solutions. Sustaining the soil documents farmers' practices, exploring the origins and adaptations carried out by farmers over generations, in response to changing circumstances. Through a comparative analysis of conservation measures - from the humid zones of West Africa to the arid lands of Sudan, from rock terraces in Morocco to the grass strips of Swaziland - the book explores the various factors that influence adoption and adaptation; farmers' perceptions of conservation needs; and the institutional and policy settings most favourable to more effective land husbandry. This book should be of interest to all policy makers, researchers and managers involved with the support of sustainable development in Africa and elsewhere. Sustaining the soil: indigenous soil and water conservation in Africa edited by Chris Reij, Ian Scoones and Camilla Toumlin 1996 260pp ISBN 1 X5383 372 X published by Earthscan Publications Limited and available from CTA who are also supporting the production of a French version of the book.