Dynamics and diversity : soil fertility and farming livelihoods in Africa : case studies from Ethiopia, Mali, and Zimbabwe

Soils are critical to agriculture and, in turn, to food supply and livelihoods. Sustainable management of soils is crucial for a large proportion of the population of Africa. Contrary to many claims, soil fertility is improved and managed successfully by small-scale farmers there. Careful studies from widely different areas reveal how closely bound up soil management is with complex social, cultural and ecological factors - requiring a far more subtly tuned approach to development policy and practice. This work is a study of how the context of livelihood systems has to inform development policy and practice. Contents......Page 4 List of Tables......Page 6 List of Figures......Page 8 List of Boxes......Page 9 Foreword......Page 10 Preface......Page 11 List of Acronyms and Abbreviations......Page 13 Introduction......Page 14 The current policy debate......Page 15 Understanding soils in Africa......Page 17 Styles of investigation and sources of evidence......Page 21 Science and how the policy debate is framed......Page 25 Case study sites: some contrasts and comparisons......Page 28 Diversity and dynamics: new perspectives on soil management......Page 39 Soils, agriculture and livelihoods: multiple pathways of change......Page 47 Conclusion......Page 57 Introduction......Page 58 The Wolayta context: an introduction to the study areas......Page 59 Agricultural and environmental history......Page 61 Biographies of change: the intertwining of social, economic, political and biophysical processes......Page 69 Land users’ perspectives on soils and their management......Page 72 Social and economic dimensions of soil management......Page 78 Impacts on farm- and plot-level nutrient balances......Page 84 Conclusion......Page 88 Introduction......Page 91 The Malian context......Page 92 Agricultural and environmental issues in Mali......Page 94 Farming Systems in Mali......Page 96 A comparison of the four research sites......Page 102 Soils and their management......Page 104 How do people gain access to soil nutrients?......Page 107 Managing soil-fertility: analysis of nutrient balances......Page 114 Assessing the significance of the partial nutrient balances......Page 119 Institutional and policy contexts: explaining differences in soil-fertility management......Page 120 Conclusion......Page 127 Introduction......Page 129 Researching soils in Zimbabwe: a brief overview......Page 130 The case study areas......Page 133 Ecological dynamics and soil-fertility......Page 135 A brief history of soils and landscapes......Page 139 Local understandings of soils and fertility......Page 148 Nutrient budget analysis......Page 150 Managing soil-fertility: input use......Page 154 Efficiencies of nutrient use......Page 157 Pathways of soil-fertility change......Page 160 Soil-fertility management strategies: case studies......Page 164 Socio-economic issues: access, control and management of fertilty resources......Page 166 Conclusion......Page 175 Introduction......Page 177 Agro-ecosystem complexity and diversity......Page 178 Farmers and scientists working together......Page 181 Adaptive experimentation and joint learning: experiences from Africa......Page 182 New challenges......Page 186 Introduction......Page 189 Diversity of agro-ecological setting and farmer practice......Page 191 Farmers’ concern for soil-fertility management: the broader context......Page 192 Technological choices......Page 194 Impacts of policy on farming practice......Page 198 Policy options and strategies......Page 211 Strategies for integrated soil-fertility management: following a phased approach......Page 215 Future directions?......Page 219 Notes......Page 222 References......Page 228 Index......Page 248 "The management of Africa's soils is one of the major challenges facing agriculture and livelihoods in the 21st century. Policies to address this tend to assume that soils are being degraded on a large scale, and that farmers' practices often contribute to a 'downward spiral' of degradation and poverty - a familiar narrative of negative environmental change." "But have policies been attuned to local-level understandings of soils and their change? What can we learn from a detailed understanding of the way farmers actually manage their soils and the social and environmental processes that result in their transformation? Is the story of environmental change always so gloomy? What factors encourage more positive trends?" "These are just some of the questions addressed in this book. Based on a series of detailed case studies from Ethiopia, Mali and Zimbabwe, it explores the complex dynamics of soil fertility change from an interdisciplinary perspective, looking at the way farmers actually manage their soils and the social and environmental processes that determine their transformation. Through this analysis, Dynamics and Diversity suggests new ways of thinking about agricultural development policy and practice."--Jacket Sustainable management of soils is crucial for a large proportion of the population of Africa. Contrary to many claims, soil fertility is improved and managed successfully by small-scale farmers there. This work studies how the context of livelihood systems has to inform development policy and practice. Soils are critical to agriculture and, in turn, to food supply and to livelihoods in Africa. Soil management is bound up with a whole complex of social, cultural and ecological factors. This work studies development policy and practice for agriculture