Strategies for sustainable land management in the East Africa highlands: conclusions and implications

Abstract

The studies in this book sought to understand the factors affecting rural households’ choice of income strategies and land management practices and the implications of these decisions and of policy- and program-relevant factors for agricultural production, household welfare, and land degradation. We noted at the outset that the factors influencing these decisions and outcomes are many and complex and that their effects may be very context-dependent in a region as diverse as the East African highlands. The findings in the preceding chapters amply support this hypothesis. The material presented in Chapters 3–15 of this book provides a rich and diverse set of findings. It is impossible to summarize all of these findings in a few sentences or provide a simple prescription to solve all of the problems of rural people in the East African highlands based on these results. Because the problems are complex and situations are diverse, the solutions to the problems are also likely to be complex and diverse. Still, in this chapter we seek to synthesize what has been learned from these studies as briefly as possible, relate these findings to the broader literature on determinants and effects of livelihoods and land management, and draw implications for policy makers, development agencies, researchers, and others seeking to address these problems in East Africa and elsewhere