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A
key tenet of the
ASB programme is
that none of the
environmental benefits
of the 'best bet'
practices will be
achieved if appropriate
socioeconomic incentives,
policy interventions
and institutional
frameworks which
facilitate adoption
by farmers are not
in place. The data
set on smallholder
economic concerns
includes measures
of profitability,
labour requirements,
cash flow constraints,
household food security
and institutional
requirements. With
these data, it is
possible to model
the impact of changes
in prices, labour
availability, and
technological change
on farmers' land-use
practices. Four
results stand out:
-
Poverty
alleviation (as
it differs from
food security)
is as important,
if not more so,
than profitability
in some cases.
-
In
the benchmark
countries, currency
fluctuations have
had a significant
impact on the
relative profitability
of alternative
land uses; tradable
commodities have
become more profitable;
these increased
profits may come
at the expense
of some global
environmental
services.
-
It
is likely that
farmers will need
several 'best
bet' options in
a mosaic if they
are to meet household
food and cash
needs, deal effectively
with climatic
and market risk,
and have a positive
impact on environmental
outcomes.
At all sites,
significant institutional
barriers exist
to the adoption
of not only some
of the more profitable
alternatives,
but also the most
environmentally
beneficial alternatives.
-
There
are tradeoffs
or complementarities
among carbon sequestration,
biodiversity,
and profitability
to smallholder
farmers. There
is a positive
relationship between
carbon stocks
and above-ground
biodiversity across
the land-use systems
at the benchmark
sites (Figure
5; Gillison &
Palm, 1998). The
comparison of
potential profitability
of land-use systems
in Cameroon to
the carbon sequestered
by those same
systems indicates
that a broad range
of tree-based
systems store
the same amount
of carbon but
vary considerably
in their profitability
(Figure 6; Gockowski
et al., 1998).
Such information
allows policy
and other decision
makers to evaluate
resource allocation
strategies based
on local economic
returns and global
environmental
services, and
provides guidance
as to how and
where to intervene
via policy change,
including investing
in dissemination
of technologies.
BACK
Page
preparation by Dr.
Erick C.M. Fernandes,
Cornell University.
--ASB Global Coordinator
(1998-1999)--
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