Journal ArticleDOI
Farming and environmental degradation in Zambia: the human dimension
TLDR
In this article, a case study from Mkushi District, Central Province exemplifies the influence of external factors on environmental degradation in general, and soil erosion in particular, and the implication for conservation strategies is briefly reviewed.About:
This article is published in Applied Geography.The article was published on 1983-01-01. It has received 16 citations till now. The article focuses on the topics: Ecological farming & Subsistence agriculture.read more
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Plantations, Contract Farming and Commercial Farming Areas in Africa: A Comparative Review
Abstract: The LACA Working Paper series publishes work in progress by LACA team members. All papers are technical research papers which have been peer reviewed, and are available in open access format. Please consult the project web pages at http://www.future-agricultures.org/laca or be in touch with the author(s) for further information. 3 Executive summary Introduction There is uncertainty and no small controversy surrounding the potential impacts of commercial agricultural developments that are being proposed for sub-Saharan Africa by domestic governments and foreign investors. Much of the debate concerns how Africa's rural poor could be affected. One response is to look back and review what the outcomes have been from earlier such developments. This should include consideration of the institutional setting to help us understand how institutions influence the character and outcome of commercial agricultural schemes. This working paper assesses the historical experience of three farming models that have figured in recent investments in sub-Saharan Africa: plantations, contract farming and commercial farming areas. Based on a literature review, the paper concentrates on the involvement of, and effects on, rural societies in and around the area where the schemes were located. It looks mainly at sub-Saharan Africa but also considers case studies from Latin America and Asia. Defining and theorising the three farming models Plantations grow one main cash crop; require capital investment; are larger than an average-sized holding although some land may be left uncultivated; rely on hired resident or non-resident labour, often including migrant labour; and are centrally managed. Ownership may be foreign or domestic, private or corporate. With contract farming, farmers agree in a written or verbal contract to supply produce to a buyer, usually at a predetermined price, on a specific date and to a certain quality. There are several variants. One that may involve large-scale land acquisition is nucleus outgrowing, where contracted smallholders complement production on a central estate. Lastly, a commercial farming area constitutes multiple private commercial farms of medium or large scale that are more or less contiguous in an area. Commercial farming areas or blocks have been documented in Africa throughout the twentieth century, and in recent years there have been signs of increased activity and political rhetoric around such developments. Academic analysis of the three models has been dominated by approaches from mainstream neoclassical economics and Marxist political economy. Early work from dependency and labour theory considered the socioeconomic impact of plantations in developing economies. …
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Soil erosion and sediment transport research in tropical Africa
TL;DR: In this article, the authors reviewed the magnitude of soil erosion in tropical Africa and related it to erodibility, erosivity and landform in different ecological regions, and the relevance of using the Universal Soil Loss Equation in estimating these parameters is reviewed.
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The influence of traditional steep land agricultural practices on runoff and soil loss
TL;DR: In this paper, the hydrological and soil loss responses to traditional agriculture (shifting agriculture) of a steeply sloped sector (32° incline) classified by FAO has having Regosol soil.
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Population driven changes in land use in Zimbabwe's Gutu district of Masvingo province: Some lessons from recent history
TL;DR: A hybrid approach comprising literature review, field investigation and interpretation of multi-date panchromatic aerial photographs at the 1:25,000 and 1:50,000 scales over four time slices between 1963 and 1997 was used to investigate the environmental impacts of increasing population density in Zimbabwe's Serima communal lands of Gutu district in Masvingo province as mentioned in this paper.
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African soil erosion — nature undone and the limitations of technology
TL;DR: A wide range of mechanical soil conservation techniques commonly used in Africa are reviewed in a politico-economic framework as mentioned in this paper, which is concerned with the relationships between these factors and the likelihood of farmers adopting these techniques.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI
Farming Systems in the Tropics
J. T. Coppock,Hans Ruthenberg +1 more
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors analyse the important farming systems of the tropics and introduce the farm-management problems that arise for each, identifying seven basically distinct systems; in each the economic implications of soil fertility, uncertainty, and labour productivity problems are discussed.
The soil under shifting cultivation.
Peter Nye,D. J. Greenland +1 more
TL;DR: The soil under shifting cultivation as mentioned in this paper, the soil under shift cultivation, the soil in shifting cultivation, The soil under shifted cultivation, and shifting cultivation in the field of shifting cultivation.
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The effect of fallow and continuous cultivation on the chemical and physical properties of an alfisol in western Nigeria
A. S. R. Juo,Rattan Lal +1 more
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors compared the performance of continuous cropping with those under planted fallows and natural bush regrowth for three years after forest clearing, and suggested that soils may be planted with a combination of Guinea grass and pigeon pea fallow for one or two years after three or four years.