Sustaining the Soil: Indigenous Soil and Water Conservation in Africa

ISBN-13: 9781853833724 / Angielski / Miękka / 1996 / 276 str.

Reij, Chris

Opis

Through a comparative analysis of conservation measures - from the humid zones of West Africa to the arid lands of the Sudan, from rock terraces in Morocco to the grass strips of Swaziland - this book explores farmers' perceptions of conservation needs, and the institutional and policy settings most favorable to effective land husbandry.

Spis treści

Sustaining the soil ? Making the most of local knowledge ? Drought and the need to change ? The mastery of water ? Mountains, foothills and plains ? Improving traditional planting pits in the Tahoua Department ? Rehabilitating degraded land ? A measure for every site ? The zai ? Mulching on the Central Plateau of Burkina Faso ? Firki-masakwa cultivation in Borno, north-east Nigeria ? Indigenous SWC in Southern Zimbabwe ? Environmental change and livelihood responses ? ?Grandfather?s way of doing? ? How rice cultivation became an ?indigenous? farming practice in Maswa district, Tanzania ? Making the most of compost ? Cultivating the valleys ? Pit cultivation in the Matengo Highlands of Tanzania ? ?Back to the grass strips? ? The ?flexibility? of indigenous SWC techniques ? Traditional ditches in Northern Shewa, the Ethiopian Highlands ? Creating an inventory of indigenous SWC measures in Ethiopia ? Local farming in the former Transhei, South Africa ? Traditional SWC techniques in the Mandara Mountains, Northern Cameroon ? New perspectives on local conservation techniques ? The rapid evolution of small-basin irrigation on the Jos Plateau, Nigeria ? A SWC system under threat ? Evolution of traditional techniques of soil conservation in the Bamileke region, West Cameroon

O autorze

Calmilla Toulmin, Chris Reij, Ian Scoones