Abstract
Many soil and water conservation (SWC) projects have been implemented in sub-Saharan Africa during the last fifty years, but their results have been fairly disappointing. Failure in SWC can be defined in two ways. (1) It means that due to lack of maintenance or even due to deliberate destruction by the “beneficiaries”, conservation works do no longer control erosion or have even disappeared completely. (2) At the end of a project, when external funding is no longer available, all SWC activities usually come to a grinding halt. The replicability of many of the SWC techniques promoted by projects is limited or sometimes even nil.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Critchley, W., Reij, C. and Turner, S.D. 1992 (a). Soil and water conservation in sub-Saharan Africa: towards sustainable development by the rural poor. IFAD, Rome.
Critchley, W. Reij, C. and Seznec, A. 1992 (b). Water harvesting for plant production. Volume II: Case studies and conclusions for Sub-Saharan Africa. World Bank Technical Paper Number 157. Washington, D. C.
Critchley, W. and Erakudi,C. 1992. Review of water harvesting techniques in Lokitaung Division, Turkana District, Kenya. Report for ITDG, U.K.
Haggblade, S., HazelI,P. and Brown, J. 1989. Farm-nonfarm linkages in rural sub-Saharan Africa. In: World Development, vol. 17 (8): 1173–1201.
Hudson, N.W., 1991. A study of the reasons for success and failure of soil conservation projects. FAO Soils Bulletin 64, FAO, Rome.
Reij, C., 1993 Improving indigenous soil and water conservation techniques: does it work ? In: Indigenous Knowledge and Development Monitor, 1 (1): 11–14.
Reij, C., 1994 (a). Les impacts des techniques de la conservation des eaux et des sols. Report prepared for OECD/Club du Sahel.
Reij, C., 1994 (b) Improved planting pits in the Sahel: present trends and future perspectives. Center for Development Cooperation Services, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam.
Reij, C., Turner, S.D. and Kuhlmann, T. 1986. Soil and water conservation in sub-Saharan Africa: issues and options. IFAD, Rome.
Rochette, R.M. et collaborateurs (1989). Le Sahel en Lutte contre la Désertification: Leçons d’Expérience. GTZ,Eschbom.
Roose, E., 1981. Dynamique actuelle de sols ferrallitiques et ferrugineux tropicaux d’Afrique Occidentale. Travaux et Documents de l’ORSTOM, no. 130.
Roose, E., 1994. Introduction à la gestion conservatoire de l’eau, de la biomasse et de la fertilité des sols (GCES). Bulletin Pédologique de la FAO no. 70, Rome.
Wright, P., 1985. Soil and water conservation by farmers. OXFAM, Ouagadougou.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1996 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Reij, C., Critchley, W. (1996). Sustainability of Soil and Water Conservation in Sub-Saharan Africa. In: Pereira, L.S., Feddes, R.A., Gilley, J.R., Lesaffre, B. (eds) Sustainability of Irrigated Agriculture. NATO ASI Series, vol 312. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-8700-6_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-8700-6_8
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-90-481-4675-8
Online ISBN: 978-94-015-8700-6
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive