Markets for non-timber tree products (NTTPs) are widely viewed with great promise because of their potential for achieving a range of development objectives. Markets can, of course, be influenced by policy, but in order to do so, market information is needed to better inform the policy process....

Central control of forests takes management responsibility away from the communities most dependent on them, inevitably resulting in tensions. Like many African countries, Tanzania--which has forest or woodland cover over 30-40 percent of its land--established central forestry institutions at a...

This paper examines farm households' tree management strategies and proposes a framework for policy interventions. Farmers plant or retain some trees on their land nearly everywhere. Historically this component of on-farm resources has attracted little interest but practical policy measures can...

Smallholder tree cultivation and management is a common form of land-use in high-potential areas of Kenya. Some practices, such as the planting of trees on field boundaries, are strongly embedded in customary notions of land and tree tenure. Others, such as the planting of black wattle (Acacia...

The presence of trees in contemporary farming systems has its origins in two attributes of trees. One is their role in sustaining crop production and their impacts on the physical environment, most notably through the restoration of nutrients and energy, and protection against damage from wind...

Simple observation in many high-potential agricultural areas of Kenya informs the casual observer that protected, cultivated and managed trees have assumed an important place as one of many smallholder land-use options. The observation poses a number of contradictions to conventional views of...

Miombo woodlands cover vast areas of southern Africa. Of comparatively little interest for export-oriented commercial logging, they are part of a complex system of rural land use that integrates woodland management with crops and livestock. There is also evidence that woodland resources are...

Five themes are identified for social, economic and policy research relating to miombo woodland management in southern Africa. They are: (I) patterns of local institutional change; (2) household use of woodland products; (3) markets for woodland products; (4) longer term dimensions to woodland...

Dry woodlands occupy very large areas in many tropical countries. Particularly where population pressures are high, such woodland types constitute increasingly important elements in land uses which integrate woodland management with crop and livestock production. In southern Africa, colonial and...

Policies play a strong role in providing incentives and disincentives for farmers to invest in improved fallow systems along with other agroforestry systems. The aim of this paper is to raise a number of policy issues relevant to the adoption and impact of improved fallow systems and then to...