This book is the result of a collaborative research effort between the World Bank and the International Livestock Centre for Africa. It extends previous work on agricultural mechanization and the evolution of farming systems in Africa by seeking to answer a number of basic questions about the integration of crops and livestock in sub - Saharan Africa. Those questions include the role of mixed farming in promoting agricultural growth, the appropriate points at which to encourage the use of animals as sources of farm power, the contribution of animals to improving the poor fertility of African soils, the efficacy of different methods to better livestock nutrition, and the economic returns to incorporating livestock production on small farms. While many individual studies have analyzed such issues in the past, this book is the first comprehensive review of existing knowledge which offers general explanations of crop-livestock relations with respect to both economic and technical features of African agriculture. In doing so, experimental evidence is carefully synthesized and examined in light of field visits to thirty-three different sites through the major agroclimates of sub - Saharan Africa. The detailed empirical nature of the book permits specific conclusions to be drawn for different farming systems, while its comparisons across those systems allow broad explanations of contrasting crop-livestock interactions.

This book presents an integrated analysis of the dynamics of the economics of households and farm production in the setting of a polygynous family structure and traditional agriculture in sub-Saharan rural Africa. It focuses on some basic facts about poverty among the farm people of rural Africa.

Conference report on the use of animal traction in farming in developing countries - reports of field studies, summary of group discussions, economic evaluation, sociological aspects, research and development. Diagrams, photographs.

This new resource book provides a wealth of ideas and experiences concerning animal traction in many countries. This publication has been developed from the ATNESA workshop held in Kenya on 'meeting the challenges of animal traction' and draws together key papers and contributions from professionals in 27 different countries. The papers address a number of important challenges to animal traction that relate to participation, environment, gender, extension, transport, equipment and animal husbandry. In addition, several papers describe national-level challenges and project attempts to address these. It will be of great value to all those concerned with the development of animal power, tropical agricultural development and rural transport, especially those involved in participative research, training, extension, development, planning, gender issues and project implementation.