CIFOR–ICRAF publishes over 750 publications every year on agroforestry, forests and climate change, landscape restoration, rights, forest policy and much more – in multiple languages.

CIFOR–ICRAF addresses local challenges and opportunities while providing solutions to global problems for forests, landscapes, people and the planet.

We deliver actionable evidence and solutions to transform how land is used and how food is produced: conserving and restoring ecosystems, responding to the global climate, malnutrition, biodiversity and desertification crises. In short, improving people’s lives.

Lessons for natural resource mnagement, technology adoption and research

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This discussion paper identifies general tendencies that hold across agroecological zones and economic policy conditions which govern the adoption of natural resource management research technologies. The first section presents a model of the process by which new natural resource management practices are developed, disseminated and adopted by farmers and researchers. The second section draws upon papers presented in the book "Natural resource managment in African agriculture: understanding and improving current practices", to support generalizations about what is known and what still needs to be known about the adoption of natural resource practices and about the state of research on these issues. It is concluded that recent movements to more participatory approaches have positive impacts on the adoption of improved soil fertility and conservation practices.

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