No abstract

Forests in Kenya are threatened by unsustainable uses and conversion to alternative land uses. In spite of the consequences of forest degradation and biodiversity loss and reliance of communities on forests livelihoods, there is little empirical data on the role of forest resources in livelihoods of the local communities. Socioeconomic, demographic, and forest use data were obtained by interviewing 367 households. Forest product market survey was undertaken to determine prices of various forest products for valuation of forest use. Forest income was significant to households contributing 33% of total household income. Fuel wood contributed 50%, food (27%), construction material (18%), and fodder, and thatching material 5% to household forest income. Absolute forest income and relative forest income (%) were not significantly different across study locations and between ethnic groups. However, absolute forest income and relative forest income (%) were significantly different among wealth classes. Poor households were more dependent on forests resources. However, in absolute terms, the rich households derived higher forest income. These results provide valuable information on the role of forest resources to livelihoods and could be applied in developing forest conservation policies for enhanced ecosystem services and livelihoods.

A farm level study on the adoption (and adaptation) of alley farming was conducted in Nigeria between July and September 1996. Two hundred and twenty-three farmers were surveyed in 14 villages, 142 in the southwest and 81 in the southeast. Results suggest a number of socioeconomic factors that should be used for better targeting of alley farming and its variants in Nigeria. Some conclusions can be drawn from the analysis. First, the adoption process of the alley farming technology is not gender-neutral; the probability of adoption was higher for men than for women farmers. Secondly, it appears that village-level proxies for economic and institutional factors play a key role in influencing incentives for technology adoption. Thirdly, efforts to promote agroforestry technologies should focus on not just locational issues, but also on their interaction with policy-amenable variables. Finally, it is important for researchers to carefully monitor and assess how farmers are using technologies.

Research and practice are increasingly demonstrating the environmental benefits of pastoralism and the opportunity for sustainable development of pastoral communities through a combination of livestock and biodiversity-related business. To take full advantage of the potential biodiversity-pastoral synergies, it will be crucial to put in place supporting policies. They need to be embedded in the context of overall pastoral development. However, rangelands and pastoral societies in drylands are heterogeneous, and development options cannot be assumed to be uniform. Factors such as aridity, access to markets and population pressure influence the constraints and the opportunities for both pastoral and non-pastoral communities. We describe the differential challenges to development along these gradients and identify investment priorities if the policy objectives were to support the complementarities between pastoralism and biodiversity conservation.

This paper presents an overview of the present situation of natural resource management (NRM) in African agriculture, as well as the historical context and current options for improved NRM. A summary of the key issues and previous findings in the literature is also presented.