The impact of soil conservation and output diversification on farm income in Central American hillside farming

This article analyzes the determinants of farm income among hillside farmers participating in natural resource management projects in El Salvador and Honduras. The farm income function was evaluated using a system of equations in which income is determined simultaneously by the farmer's decision to adopt soil conservation technologies and by the level of diversification (number of agricultural activities) on the farm. The database used comes from surveys administered to 678 beneficiaries of these projects during 2002. The econometric results suggest that all the variables related directly to land use (i.e., output diversification, soil conservation practices and structures, and the adoption of forestry systems) have a positive and statistically significant association with farm income. Also, farmers who own land enjoy higher farm incomes than those who do not. The results indicate that when investing in natural resource management projects, governments and multilateral development agencies should pay close attention to output diversification, land tenure, and human capital formation as effective instruments in increasing farm income.     

Adoption of erosion management practices in New Zealand

Soil erosion is a serious environmental threat to New Zealand’s agricultural sector. Economic costs of soil erosion are significant and the costs of adopting mitigation and management practices, given the targets set by environmetal policy, do not spread uniformly across space, economic activities and types of erosion processes. Management practices have been widely employed by farmers and promoted by several policy programs. Practices are not mutually exclusive and could be jointly adopted by comparing productivity gains against costs of implementation. However, research on the identification of the drivers of adoption is scarce in New Zealand. To identify the determinants of adoption of management practices in New Zealand farms, we combine novel survey information with data on climate and erosion in a multivariate probit framework. This framework allows identification of potential complementarity or substitution between management practices. We find significant and heterogeneous effects from erosion levels, temperature, wind velocity and primary land uses on the adoption of any of the practices. In addition, we also find significant complementarities between management practices. The results of this study are important because the complementarities relate to external effects of erosion mitigation which can help to promote public acceptability of mitigation policies.     

农业社会化服务能促进农户采用亲环境农业技术吗

使用亲环境农业技术是治理农业面源污染、改善耕地质量和提升农业绿色发展程度的重要举措。本文基于农业社会化服务视角,采用农户微观调查数据,利用倾向得分匹配法和mvprobit方法,定量测度了农户购买不同环节的农业社会化服务对其亲环境农业技术采用的影响效应。研究结果表明,农户购买农业社会化服务对其采用亲环境农业技术具有显著促进作用。然而,不同环节的农业社会化服务对其采用的影响差异较大,购买施肥和施药等社会化服务能显著促进农户采用施肥技术和病虫害专业化统防统治,而整地、插秧和收割等机械化服务的影响并不显著。随耕地经营规模扩大,农户购买插秧、整地、收割、施药和施肥等社会化服务和其采用亲环境农业技术的可能性均不断提高。未来中国应进一步推动规模经营和农业社会化服务组织发展,强化农业社会化服务组织在施肥施药环节的作用,并对不同环节的社会化服务区别对待,规范其行为,降低农业社会化服务组织的不确定性,防范服务风险,更好发挥农业社会化服务对提高农业绿色发展程度的带动作用。     

Land management,erosion problems and soil and water conservation in Fincha’a watershed,western Ethiopia

The knowledge of soil erosion processes, attitude towards rational use of resources and institutional support affect the capability of farmers to implement soil and water conservation (SWC) measures. This research was conducted to determine soil erosion problems and the factors that affect the adoption of SWC measures in Fincha’a watershed, western Ethiopia. A total of 50 farmers were interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire, and two group discussions were held with 20 farmers. Moreover, transects were walked to classify erosion features, and a quantitative erosion survey was made on 19 farm plots during the rainy season of 2004. The results showed that crop fields are affected by annual soil losses ranging from 24 to 160 Mg ha⁻¹. Farmers are well aware of these erosion problems, and related the soil loss to steep slopes and a decline in soil fertility. However, they did not invest much in SWC measures, but apply soil management practices to sustain crop yields. The wealth status of farmers, land tenure arrangements and lack of access the farmers have to information are the major factors affecting SWC adoption. High labour demand of SWC measures, lack of short-term benefits and free grazing have negatively affected SWC adoption. Soil erosion problems in Fincha’a watershed have both on-site and off-site effects that require integrated SWC planning at watershed scale.     

Land titling policy and soil conservation in the northern uplands of Vietnam

In Vietnam, a quasi-private property regime has been established in 1993 with the issuance of exchangeable and mortgageable long-term land use right certificates. Using primary qualitative and quantitative data collected in a mountainous district of Northern Vietnam, this paper investigates the role of the land policy in the adoption of soil conservation technologies by farmers. This issue is of crucial importance in the region where population growth and growing market demands have induced farmers to intensify agricultural production. While poverty has been reduced, environmental problems such as soil erosion, landslides, and declining soil fertility have become more severe over the past years. Our findings suggest that despite farmers’ awareness of erosion, soil conservation technologies are perceived as being economically unattractive; therefore, most upland farmers continue to practice the prevailing erosion-prone cultivation system. Focusing on agroforestry as one major soil conservation option, we estimate household and plot-level econometric models to empirically assess the determinants of adoption. We find that the possession of a formal land title positively influences adoption, but that the threat of land reallocations in villages discourages adoption by creating uncertainty and tenure insecurity. The analyses reveal that these two effects interact with each other but are of small magnitude. We conclude that the issuance of land titles is a necessary but not sufficient prerequisite to encouraging the adoption of soil conservation practices. However, current practices remain economically unattractive to farmers. This deficiency needs to be addressed by interdisciplinary research and complemented by strong efforts by local authorities to promote sustainable land use.     

Unconventional adjustment strategies for rural households in the less developed areas in Greece

International competition in agricultural production is intensifying following the implementation of the 1993 accord of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. The production of conventional farm products in surplus is being discouraged by means of indirect economic disincentives. The Common Agricultural Policy has already adjusted to unprotected national markets within the European Union and greater market orientation is being achieved mainly through price reductions. Farmers in the less developed areas in Greece, where agricultural activity is still the main source of income and employment, have been responding to policy reforms by seeking part-time employment and income in non-farm enterprises. The adoption of alternative, unconventional farm enterprises that use farm resources in an innovative and quantitatively different way does have the potential for bringing in a new source of income to farm business. For the purpose of this research three adjustment strategies were recognised. The ‘conventional’ (no change) pathway is based on traditional, region-specific products, production methods and services. The adoption of the ‘new crop’ pathway refers to the redeployment of resources into new agricultural products, whereas farms on the market integration Pathway redeploy resources into new marketing services and agricultural product processing on the farm. The new crop and the market integration pathways are identified as unconventional adjustment strategies. Results derived from multinomial logit analysis highlight the major constraints and opportunities associated with the adoption of new crops and market integration practices. Farmers who have adopted unconventional practices are influenced by factors external to the farm. such as contacts with institutions, and have a high probability of having higher debts. These farmers are likely to depend heavily on seasonal labour and rented land. The fact that market integration activities are associated with smaller farms in conjunction with off-farm work signifies the importance of establishing an integrated rural development policy approach. Public policy involvement in enhancing dissemination of information concerning unconventional enterprises is emphasised.     

Strategies to increase agricultural productivity and reduce land degradation: evidence from Uganda

This paper estimates a structural econometric model of household decisions regarding income strategies, participation in programs and organisations, crop choices, land management, and labour use, and their implications for agricultural production and soil erosion; based upon a survey of over 450 households and their farm plots in Uganda. Many factors have context-specific impacts and involve trade-offs between increasing production and reducing land degradation. Government agricultural extension and training programs contribute to higher value of crop production in the lowlands, but to soil erosion in the highlands. By contrast, non-governmental organization (NGO) programs focusing on agriculture and environment help to reduce erosion, but have less favourable impacts on production in the lowlands. Education increases household incomes, but also reduces crop production in the lowlands. Poverty has mixed impacts on agricultural production, depending on the nature of poverty: smaller farms obtain higher crop production per hectare, while households with fewer livestock have lower crop production. Population pressure contributes to agricultural intensification, but also to erosion in the densely populated highlands. Several household income strategies contribute to increased value of crop production, without significant impacts on soil erosion. We find little evidence of impact of access to markets, roads and credit, land tenure or title on agricultural intensification and crop production and land degradation. In general, the results imply that the strategies to increase agricultural production and reduce land degradation must be location-specific, and that there are few 'win-win' opportunities to simultaneously increase production and reduce land degradation.     

Adoption and diffusion of improved technologies and production practices in agriculture: Insights from a donor-led intervention in Nepal

Adoptions of improved technologies and production practices are important drivers of agricultural development in low-income countries like Nepal. Adopting a broad class of such technologies and practices is often critical for meeting the multifaceted goals of efficiency, profitability, environmental sustainability, and climate resilience. This study aims to address the knowledge gaps that still exist concerning what determines the adoption of improved technologies and production practices, the factors affecting their diffusion, the impact of interventions on productivity and crops grown, and the variability of impact within a particular country context. In this paper we address these questions using data collected as part of the USAID-led Knowledge-Based Integrated Sustainable Agriculture in Nepal (KISAN) project. We adopted a multistage sampling technique and surveyed 988 beneficiary households and 997 non-beneficiary households in KISAN intervention districts and non-intervention districts. Our findings suggest that, in Nepal, adoption of improved technologies and practices is significantly increased by improved access to markets, private sector involvement in selling improved seeds and disseminating information, membership in progressive farmers groups and cooperative societies, participation in agricultural training and farm visits, provision of subsidies for seeds, and access to credit. We also found the probability of the adoption of improved practices to be affected by farmers’ sources of information; for instance, the adoption of improved practices was increased when farmers obtained information from informal sources, cooperatives/farmers organizations, and public and private extension programs. The effects of KISAN projects vary significantly across the different crops grown, based on the evaluation models that address self-selection of both project participation and crop choices. These implications may also apply to other parts of the world facing similar challenges as Nepal, where limited market access, insufficient knowledge and resource capacity of farmers constrain their adoption of improved technologies and practices in agriculture.     

Adoption of Multiple Sustainable Agricultural Practices in Rural Ethiopia

The adoption and diffusion of sustainable agricultural practices (SAPs) has become an important issue in the development‐policy agenda for sub‐Saharan Africa, especially as a way to tackle land degradation, low agricultural productivity and poverty. However, the adoption rates of SAPs remain below expected levels. This study analyses the factors that facilitate or impede the probability and level of adoption of interrelated SAPs, using recent data from multiple plot‐level observations in rural Ethiopia. Multivariate and ordered probit models are applied to the modelling of adoption decisions by farm households facing multiple SAPs, which can be adopted in various combinations. The results show that there is a significant correlation between SAPs, suggesting that adoptions of SAPs are interrelated. The analysis further shows that both the probability and the extent of adoption of SAPs are influenced by many factors: a household’s trust in government support, credit constraints, spouse education, rainfall and plot‐level disturbances, household wealth, social capital and networks, labour availability, plot and market access. These results imply that policy‐makers and development practitioners should seek to strengthen local institutions and service providers, maintain or increase household asset bases and establish and strengthen social protection schemes in order to improve the adoption of SAPs.     

Resource degradation and adoption of land conservation technologies in the Ethiopian Highlands: A case study in Andit Tid,North Shewa

This paper reports results from a study of resource degradation and conservation behavior of peasant households in a degraded part of the Ethiopian highlands. Peasant households' choice of conservation technologies is modeled as a two-stage process: recognition of the erosion problem, and adoption and level of use of control practices. An ordinal logit model is used to explain parcel-level perception of the threat of the erosion problem and the extent of use of conservation practices. Results show the importance of perception of the threat of soil erosion, household, land and farm characteristics; perception of technology-specific attributes, and land quality differentials in shaping conservation decisions of peasants. Furthermore, where poverty is widespread and appropriate support policies are lacking, results indicate that population pressure per se is unable to encourage sustainable land use. The challenge of breaking the poverty-environment trap and initiating sustainable intensification thus require policy incentives and technologies that confer short-term benefits to the poor while conserving the resource base.     

Economic impacts of smallholder farmers’ adoption of drought-tolerant maize varieties

Drought and high temperatures are major threats to sustainable food production and consequently the livelihoods of the majority of Africans who depend on fragile agricultural systems. As a response to these threats, climate-smart agricultural technologies, such as drought-tolerant maize (DTM) varieties, have been developed and promoted on the continent. It is well-known that the adoption of improved technologies generally impacts positively on the wellbeing of adopters. Nevertheless, the magnitude of the impact of any technology or intervention is always an empirical question. Therefore, this study sought to determine the factors that influence the adoption of DTM and subsequently estimate how yield, commercialization intensity, and farm income are affected by adoption. To establish causation, we relied on observations from 200 farm households in the Northern Region of Ghana and estimated an instrumental variable regression. Consistent with findings reported in the literature, we found that DTM adoption is primarily driven by access to seed, extension service, labor availability, and location of farm households. In addition, we found that DTM adoption positively impacts on yield and commercialization intensity. The magnitude of impact is not trivial. For example, the yield of farm households increased by more than 150% (936 kg/ha) following DTM adoption. These results imply that policy-makers and development practitioners must support research and promotion of climate-smart agriculture to improve adoption and welfare indicators, such as yield and commercialization.     

The impact of marketing systems on soil sustainability of agriculture in developing countries: a method and an application

This article is concerned with soil‐sustainability problems of agriculture in developing countries, in particular with soil erosion. The aim of our study is to develop a comprehensive model that explains the adoption of sustainable agricultural practices with respect to soil conservation. Our approach includes the following special features: (a) the model is comprehensive in that it includes a large number of institutional, personal–social, economic, and physical explanatory variables; (b) particular attention is paid to the influence of marketing systems on the adoption of sustainable agricultural practices, which to our knowledge has been neglected in past research; (c) the concept of adopting sustainable agricultural practices (ASAP) is differentiated into a limited number of basic components of soil conservation; and (d) the model is estimated by Principal Component Regression, which enhances efficient estimation of the impact of many explanatory variables on ASAP. Our model is applied to Cabuyal hillside farming in Colombia. The application demonstrates the usefulness of the proposed model. ASAP is differentiated into three basic components: soil‐disturbance control, soil‐protection practices, and run‐off control. It appears that soil‐disturbance control is particularly influenced by farmers' characteristics, such as education and managerial variables. The second component, soil‐protection practices, appears to be strongly influenced not only by farmers' managerial variables but also by their relationship with their environment, in particular marketing institutions. The third soil‐conservation component, run‐off control, is influenced by the physical characteristics of the plot and by the available farm labor. Our empirical results demonstrate the usefulness of the proposed model in designing agricultural policies, because it can determine which variables are more likely to influence the adoption of a specific type of soil conservation.     

Changes in Brazil’s Forest Code can erode the potential of riparian buffers to supply watershed services

In Brazil, the Forest Code requires landholders to maintain fixed-width buffers of native vegetation along watercourses – legally called Areas of Permanent Preservation (APPs). In 2012, agricultural activities started to be partially allowed in APPs, but only if best management practices on soil and water conservation are adopted and if a narrow buffer strip with native vegetation is restored adjacently to the watercourse. In this paper, we present a modeling framework to investigate the capacity of legal compliant APPs to supply watershed services (erosion control and stream bank stabilization) in a 2,200 ha watershed in São Paulo State, Brazil. Our results suggest that the narrower the riparian buffer the lower the control of soil erosion dynamic within APPs, and that riparian buffers smaller than 8 m can act as a source of sediments to streams. The adoption of best management practices can contribute to controlling soil erosion within APPs but the presence of native forests in the first 15 m is necessary to guarantee equivalent protection to streams when compared to APPs completely covered by forests. Moreover, we observed that forest restoration within APPs helped to reduce the average soil loss of the watershed by only 20 %, compared to a reduction of 55 % when best practices are implemented in all watershed agricultural areas. We conclude that (i) the reduced requirements for APP restoration may contribute to stream sedimentation, which will likely affect the supply of watershed services by stream ecosystems; (ii) the implementation of best management practices in APPs will not have the same effect as native forests to reduce stream sedimentation; and (iii) the adoption of best management practices in all agricultural production areas – and not only within APPs as required by law – is the best strategy to promote the supply of watershed services to society.     

Chinese land policies and farmers’ adoption of organic fertilizer for saline soils

Soil salinization has become a global concern and poses a great threat to food production and sustainable land use. Land use policies are the main driver of saline soil farmland use in ecosystems. This paper proposes a theoretical framework for analyzing how saline soil farmland use is affected by land use practices of individual farm households. An empirical study, using an ordered probit model, was conducted based on questionnaire responses from farm households in 8 towns and 14 villages in eco-fragile areas in Shandong, Jilin and Xinjiang provinces. The results suggest that land tenure, state systems agricultural support, characteristics of a field parcel and characteristics of the farm households have different influences on farmer's land use in three regions. The adoption of organic fertilizer by individual households is constrained by the lack of stability and integrity in land tenure. Furthermore, the parcel of a field is generally small, sparsely distributed and often fragmented, which increases costs. Even subsidizing organic fertilizer does not necessarily help in its adoption. Given these challenges, this study makes recommendations for different regions that may promote the adoption of improved saline soil farmland cultivation methods by farmers.     

Agricultural technology and land use futures: The UK case

This paper explores how agricultural technology has interacted with recent land use in the UK and how it might do so in the next 50 years. From 1960 to 1985, farmers successfully used technology to increase the output of crop and animal products per unit of land and particularly of labour. This reduced the number of people employed in agriculture, and promoted larger and more specialised farm enterprises. Between 1985 and 2006, food prices were relatively low, and although labour productivity continued to increase, land productivity remained relatively static. However during this period, farmers started to address the effects of agriculture on reduced water quality and habitat loss.For established agricultural products, technological innovation tends to have an incremental effect, working through genetic improvement, the removal of abiotic and biotic stress (e.g. crop nutrition and protection, irrigation and drainage, and animal nutrition, health and housing) and the substitution of labour. Whereas the first two processes tend to be scale-neutral, the substitution of labour is usually easiest to achieve on larger farms. Other key areas for technological innovation include addressing air, soil and water quality, biodiversity, waste reduction, and information management. Over the next 50 years, large step-changes in land use arising from agricultural technology are predicted to arise from the development of new markets for agricultural products. A strong bioenergy sector will strengthen the links between crop commodity and energy prices and will have a major effect on future land use. Climate change and the regulation of greenhouse gas emissions will alter the relative profitability of crop and animal production systems. Lastly, increased public awareness of the links between food, health and the environment could substantially shift the demand for specific agricultural products.Continual improvements in agricultural technology are pivotal to providing society with the flexibility to balance the challenges of improving human well-being with the management of the planet's ecosystem. Increased technological innovation increases the probability that agricultural land can be used for other purposes, but the exact relationship is dependent on trade and environmental policies. The large external effects of agriculture mean that decisions regarding the adoption of future technologies should be taken by farmers working with other stakeholders.     

Resource constraints and partial adoption of conservation agriculture by hand-hoe farmers in Mozambique

Conservation agriculture is a set of practices widely promoted to increase agricultural productivity while conserving soil through reduced tillage, mulching and crop rotation. Adoption levels are low across southern Africa and farmers often use only some components on small portions of their land. This study uses in-depth interviews and partial budget analysis to explore adoption of conservation agriculture in Mozambique's Angonia highlands. Farmers described many benefits but there was little sign of adoption beyond plots where non-governmental organizations promoting conservation agriculture had provided inputs. Most farmers were adamant that conservation agriculture could perform better than conventional agriculture only if they applied fertilizer or compost. With current costs and prices, conservation agriculture is unprofitable except on small plots for farmers with low opportunity cost of household labour. These findings suggest that conservation agriculture can improve maize yields but capital and labour constraints limit adoption to small plots in the absence of free or subsidized inputs. Given the current ranges of prices for grain and inputs these manual forms of conservation agriculture will not be adopted on a large scale in Angonia. Nevertheless, small conservation agriculture plots can provide farmers with high yields where constraints are lowest.     

Policies for sustainable development in the hillside areas of Honduras: a quantitative livelihoods approach

In this article, we use data for 376 households, 1,066 parcels, and 2,143 plots located in 95 villages in the hillside areas in Honduras to generate information needed by decision makers to assess the needs and opportunities for public investments, and design policies that stimulate natural resource conservation. We develop a quantitative livelihood approach, using factor and cluster analysis to group households based on the use of their main assets. This resulted in seven household categories that pursue similar livelihood strategies. We use a multinomial logit model to show that livelihood strategies are determined by comparative advantages as reflected by a combination of biophysical and socioeconomic variables. While 92% of the rural hillsides population in Honduras lives on US$1.00/capita/day or less, households that follow a livelihood strategy based on basic grain farming are the poorest because they often live in isolated areas with relatively poor agro‐ecological and socioeconomic conditions. Opportunities for off‐farm work tend to be limited in these areas and household strategies that combine on‐farm work with off‐farm work earn higher incomes. Per capita incomes can be increased by improving road infrastructure, widening access to land, policies that reduce household size and dependency ratios, and adoption of sustainable land management technologies that restore soil fertility. We used probit models to show that the latter can be promoted by agricultural extension programs and land redistribution. Investments in physical assets should be directed toward households that pursue livelihood strategies based on off‐farm employment or coffee production, while agricultural training programs are best focused on livestock producers.     

Innovation and networks in New Zealand farming

The New Zealand government seeks to dramatically increase the value of agricultural exports while concurrently protecting the natural environment. Thus, farmers are expected to adopt pro‐environmental management practices and novel farm technologies. We show that farmers are more likely to adopt new practices and technologies after seeing them demonstrated, but earlier evidence indicates that demonstration is most effectively undertaken within farmer networks. We use multivariate regression to identify the traits of livestock farmers who are innovative by focusing on adoption of pro‐environmental management practices (managing nutrients, soils and pugging) and novel farm technologies (e.g., windmills, computer‐based management systems, automatic sensors and specialised grasses), considering both numbers adopted and timing. We find that dairy farmers are more innovative than other livestock farmers and that higher education levels and stronger environmental norms within the family are strongly associated with innovativeness. In addition, we find that innovators and early adopters have larger networks than other farmers. Moreover, the composition of these networks is much more varied than the networks of less innovative farmers. These findings imply that innovative farmers in New Zealand may also act as connectors for the diffusion of new ideas in farming.     

L’Évaluation économique de l'investissement dans la conservation des sols: Le cas des aménagements antiérosifs dans le bassin versant du lac Lagdo au Cameroun

This article presents an analysis of the economic impact of erosion control facilities on farm operations in the watershed of Lake Lagdo in Cameroon. Over the past several decades, erosion control facilities, which are erosion control techniques, have been introduced in Cameroon. No assessment of the impacts of these on farm operations had yet been made. Drawing on data from a survey carried out in 2007 and 2008 and a switching regression model, the study concentrates on the effectiveness of the production factors of parcels of land with and without erosion control facilities. The comparison of the average crop yields of the operations in our sample that either adopted or did not adopt such facilities shows a significant difference, representing up to 10% of the value of the farm production. Proof of a positive selection bias is also found, indicating that the farms with above‐average crop yields are more likely to adopt erosion control facilities. Such facilities on the parcels of land also provide an advantage in terms of increasing the productivity of inputs. The analytical approach developed and the positive conclusion of the selection bias can be pertinent to assessing other soil conservation technologies promoted in the area.     

Valuing soil conservation benefits of agroforestry: contour hedgerows in the Eastern Visayas,Philippines

Trees can be considered as investments made by economic agents to prevent depreciation of natural assets such as stocks of top soil and water In agroforestry systems farmers use trees in this manner by deliberately combining them with agricultural crops on the same unit of land. Although advocates of agroforestry have asserted that soil conservation is one of its primary benefits, empirical estimates of these benefits have been lacking due to temporal and spatial complexity of agroforestry systems and the nonmarket aspect of soil capital assets. This study designs and applies a bio-economic framework for valuing the soil conservation benefits of agroforestry. The framework is tested with econometric analysis of data from surveys of households in Eastern Visayas. Philippines, where USAID/Government of Philippines introduced contour hedgerow agroforestry in 1983. By constructing a weighted soil quality index that also incorporates measures of soil fertility, texture and color in addition to erosion, we extend previous economic studies of soil resources. This index is regressed on a variety of farming and site specific bio-physical variables. Next, we use a Cobb-Douglas profit function to directly relate agricultural profits and soil quality. Thus, the value of soil conservation is measured as a quasi-rent differential or the share of producer surplus associated with a change in soil quality. Because this framework assumes the existence of markets, the assumption is tested by analysing the statistical significance of consumption side variables, e.g., number of household members, on production side variables, e.g., profits. Instrumental variables are used to handle the endogeneity of the soil index in the profit equation. Seemingly unrelatedregression (SUR) analysis is used to accommodate correlation of errors across the soil and profit equations. Regression results reveal the importance of agroforestry intensity, private ownership, land fragmentation, and familiarity with soil conservation as positive covariates of soil quality. Analysis of production data indicate the importance of market prices, education, farming experience, farm size, topography, and soil quality as positive covariates of household profits Investments in agroforestry to improve or maintain soil capital can increased annual agricultural profits by US$53 for the typical household, which is 6% of total income. However, there are significant up-front costs. Given that small farmers in tropical uplands are important players in the management of deteriorating soil and forest resources, policy makers may want to consider supporting farmers in the early years of agroforestry adoption.