Cereal residues represent a major resource for livestock feeding during the dry season in southern Africa. When kept on the soil surface instead of feeding them to livestock, crop residues can contribute to increasing soil fertility and maintaining crop productivity in the short- and the...

Due to the scarcity of alternative organic amendments, the retention of crop residue in fields can be considered key in promoting physical, chemical, and biological attributes of soil health in agricultural systems of developing countries. However, due to multiple other uses, small landholders...

The farm-level economics of conservation agriculture (zero tillage, mulching and crop rotation)are described, reviewed and modelled. The economics are defined broadly to include not just shortterm financial benefits and costs, but also the whole-farm management context, constraints on key...

Farm households in western Kenya show preference for different labour market participation strategies. This paper examines efficiency in labour allocation between farm and off-farm activities and the factors influencing labour supply. Unlike previous studies where the household decisions are...

Technology introduction and the intensive use of resources, particularly in smallholder farming systems, are at the core of debates about future food security and sustainable livelihoods. In Brazil, land use changes promoted by competing agricultural chains require a search for alternative modes...

African smallholder farming systems are complex, dynamic systems with many interacting biophysical subcomponents. In these systems the major inputs and outputs are managed by human agency - the farmers. To analyse potential developmental pathways of smallholder farming systems in sub-Saharan...

Farm-level analysis of trade-offs between soil fertility management alternatives is required to improve understanding of complex biophysical and socio-economic factors influencing decision making in smallholder farming systems and to identify opportunities for improving resource use efficiency....

This paper evaluates how efficiently farm households allocate labor between farm and off-farm activities. It estimates farm and off-farm labor supply functions to determine the factors that influence labor allocation. Both the shadow wage and the off-farm wage rate are included as regressors in...