Dynamics and Diversity Soil Fertility and Farming Livelihoods in Africa

* Gets behind the picture of crisis and collapse in African agriculture* Shows how farmers successfully manage their most crucial resource* Exemplary demonstration of how a new approach is needed in development policy and practiceSoils are critical to agriculture and, in turn, to food supply and to 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 a whole complex of social, cultural and ecological factors - requiring a far more subtly tuned approach in development policy and practice. The book is an exemplary study of 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 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.

Transforming Soils: The Dynamics of Soil-fertility Management in Africa * Creating Gardens: The Dynamics of Soil-fertility Management in Molayta, Southern Ethiopia * Seizing New Opportunities: Soil-fertility Management and Diverse Livelihoods in Mali * Soils, Livelihoods and Agricultural Change: The Management of Soil-fertility in the Communal Lands of Zimbabwe * Participatory Approaches to Integrated Soil-fertility Management * Ways Forward? Technical Choices, Intervention Strategies and Policy Options. * Notes * References * Index

Ian Scoones is a fellow at the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex. He is co-editor (with Chris Reij and Camilla Toulmin) of 'Sustaining the Soil'.