Nearly two billion people depend on hundreds of millions of smallholder farmers for food security. Yet, these farmers' lives also hang in the balance due to their extreme vulnerability to the risks of soil degradation and depletion, soil exhaustion, climate change, and numerous biotic and abiotic stresses. Soil Management of Smallholder Agriculture

Nearly two billion people depend on hundreds of millions of smallholder farmers for food security. Yet, these farmers’ lives also hang in the balance due to their extreme vulnerability to the risks of soil degradation and depletion, soil exhaustion, climate change, and numerous biotic and abiotic stresses. Soil Management of Smallholder Agriculture explores the potential smallholder agriculture hold for advancing global food security and outlines the challenges to achieving this goal. The book addresses the challenges and opportunities that resource-poor and small landholders face and provides recommended management practices to alleviate soil-related constraints, and increase and sustain crop yield and production. It discusses the cultural, economic, social, and technological aspects of sustainable soil management for smallholder farmers. It then examines soil-related and institutional constraints, principles of sustainable agriculture, soil quality improvement, nutrient and soil fertility management, soil carbon sequestration, soil security, efficient use of resources, and agronomic production. Edited by experts, the book makes the case for the adoption of proven technologies of sustainable intensification, producing more from less, both for advancing agronomic production and adapting to changing climate. It outlines a strategy that will usher in a soil-based Green Revolution by increasing the use efficiency of energy-based inputs such as fertilizers, pesticides, and irrigation to restore soil quality, and sequestering carbon in the terrestrial ecosystems. This strategy helps small farms narrow the gap between the actual and attainable crop yield.

The rich biodiversity of plants found in smallholder farms in Africa helps support communities by producing a range of resources from medicines to construction materials. These farms are often the guardians, as well as the beneficiaries of a greater diversity of biological species than can be found in protected areas. This publication discusses how the smallholder farmers of East Africa, in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, are contributing to the global agenda for the conservation, sustainable use and equitable sharing of the benefits of biodiversity.

This doctoral work describes the unique problems faced by smallholder farmers in semi arid regions of Ethiopia. It is the result of years of on-farm research that involved farmers and incorporated their indigenous knowledge to develop appropriate tillage systems and implements. It describes tillage implements that were developed as modifications of or attachments to the traditional tillage implement, which is simple, light and inexpensive. The book shows how simple and low cost technologies can conserve soil and water leading to tremendous increase in crop yields. Recommendations for larger scale popularization of proven technologies and future areas of research are given.