Two case studies illustrate the complex relationship between smallholder farmers and the macro-economic environment from a historical perspective. Figs, maps, app, notes, bib, 104pp, GERMANY. LIT VERLAG, 3825847330

Argues that African smallholder family farming, the backbone of the continental economy throughout the colonial and early post-colonial period, has been destabilized and eroded over the past thirty years. Despite the World Bank's poverty alleviation concerns, agrarian livelihoods continue to unravel under the impact of economic liberalization and global value chains. This essay explores the productivity and welfare concerns of Africa's smallholder farming population in the shadow of the World Bank. 75pp, SWEDEN. NORDIC AFRICA INSTITUTE.

Reprint of a classic text which helped a generation of scholars and officials to appreciate that Africans' agricultural practices were both more complex and more malleable than was often thought. Allan's work also pioneered research methods that wedded ethnographic and ecological fieldwork in ways that demonstrated the inextricable links between environmental conditions and land use patterns. If certain facets of Allan's analysis have now come under scrutiny, his general tenet that to improve agricultural prospects in Africa one first has to understand it from the cultivators' point of view has only been strengthened with time. New introduction by Helen Tilley. Index, bib, diags, b/w illus, 502pp, GERMANY. LIT VERLAG.

This is an interdisciplinary collection on the major savannah regions which stretch across Africa. It shows how African farmers and herders modify landscapes in subtle and unexpected ways, and outlines the importance of local knowledge for understanding environmental change. Index, bib, maps, b/w photos, figs, tables, xvii, 270pp, UK. JAMES CURREY PUBLISHERS, 0852554249

Opportunities, and Public Regulation

Essays examining how agribusinesses are responding to the opportunities and pressures resulting from growing environmental awareness. Index, notes, vii, 302pp, UK. ZED BOOKS, 1842774131

Documents how the smallholder farmers of East Africa, in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda are playing their part in the global agenda for the conservation, sustainable use and the equitable sharing of the benefits of biodiversity. Index, notes, charts, app, b/w photos, xvii, 245pp, JAPAN. BROOKINGS, 928081088X

The capital-intensive farming methods used in the West are draining resources and funds. This study looks at the alternatives suggested by African systems of research and farming. The globalisation and commercialisation of biotechnology, made possible through the expansion of intellectual property rights based on Western notions of private property, carry particular implications for Africa. Western narratives portray agricultural biotechnology as a panacea for African underdevelopment - a cure for disease, poverty and malnutrition. But the adoption of agricultural biotechnology in Africa will likely have differential impacts on producers, depending in particular on the capital-intensiveness of their production and the nature of the particular biotech product. 302pp, USA. AFRICA WORLD PRESS.

Second edition. A complete practical guide to beekeeping in South Africa. This volume covers the management of two species honeybees and is illustrated with line drawings and diagrams. BNS, 192pp, SOUTH AFRICA. AARDVARK PRESS.

Collected essays considering policies and challenges in the agricultural economy which aim to promote equitable participation and transformation for a better future. The authors discuss inequality, poverty, and living standards. Index, refs, tables, notes, xiv, 209pp, SOUTH AFRICA. UNIVERSITY OF NATAL PRESS, 186914032X

Based on fieldwork and involving farmers, extension workers and researchers, this is an edited volume of studies of how farmers successfully experiment and inno-vate to increase productivity, often in adverse and resource-poor conditions. It covers a wide range of countries and varieties of farming and shows how successful and motivating an approach that builds on farmer innovation can be. It confirms the resourcefulness of the farmers themselves and provides an alternative to the conventional transfer of technology' development paradigm - one that recognises the farmers themselves as the major resource. 320pp, figs, tables, index, UK EARTHSCAN, 1853838160

This book is about the contradictions of liberalisation and the complexity of farmers' responses to the changing role of states and markets. Its theoretical and empirical material will interest policy-makers, development practitioners and scholars of development studies, political economy, economics, political science, and sociology. CONTENTS: Introduction - African agriculture in the post-adjustment era - The changing political economy of Tanzanian - Data politics: assessing agricultural adjustment in Tanzania - State & market failures: policy implications of agricultural input & credit liberalisation - The local politics of reform implementation - Fast crops, fast cash - Diversification, poverty & inequality - Farmers & markets in Africa: conclusions & policy implications. JAMES CURREY PUBLISHERS, 0852551681

Explains what is happening to agriculture in the World Trade Organisation (WTO) negotiating context, and unravels the complex ways in which agriculture in the North is subsidized. It sets out an alternative vision for agricultural policy, which would take it completely out of the WTO's ambit. Food is not just another commodity, but something which goes to the heart of human livelihood, culture and security. 171pp, UK. ZED BOOKS.

How best to ensure food supplies? Contents survey context; core elements of food sovereignty; food security and the right to food; potential for policies to eradicate poverty and hunger and to provide sustainable livelihoods; analysis of constraints to the adoption and implementation of policies; recognition of food intergovernmental and civil society organisations and social movements. References, BNS, 64pp A4 format, UK. ITDG PUBLISHING.

Why and how GM crops can safely help combat poverty, and disease in the developing world. It explains the technology and looks at the differences and similarities between genetic modification, conventional plant breeding, and natural processes such as cross pollination and mutations. Chapters consider controversial issues such as food safety, patents, labelling, regulations and controls. Concerns and fears are considered in a question and answer section. The book ends with a focus on Africa and possible future developments in GM technology. Technical terms are explained, and appendices provide additional information on testing for allergens, horizontal gene transfer, and international food safety assessment documents. For those who wish to explore the subject further, the book provides a list of more than 60 web sites dealing with issues related to the GM debate. Index, 208pp, SOUTH AFRICA. UNIVERSITY OF CAPE TOWN PRESS, 1919713573

An account of the actions of the global biotech industry and the manipulation of governments in the drive for the commercialisation of genetically modified crops and foods. The authors look at the historical processes behind modern action and flawed science that sustains the debate. Index, notes, xiv, 242pp, UK. ZED BOOKS, 1842773011

A study of the complex agricultural methods and dynamic farming strategies which evolved long before colonial intervention or recent development projects. Using methods such as terrace walls, hill furrow irrigation and social organisation of communal tasks, islands of intensive farming developed supporting large populations in Kenya, Tanzania and Ethiopia. Looking at the historical, ecological and anthropological aspects of these cultivations, the authors discuss lessons for modern development. Index, refs, b/w photos, maps, xii, 160pp, UK. JAMES CURREY PUBLISHERS, 0852554281

Saga of one of the world's most influential crops. Explains the science of maize production and explores how the crop has imprinted itself on Africa's agrarian and urban landscapes. Today, maize accounts for more than half the calories people consume in many African countries. During the twentieth century, a tidal wave of maize engulfed the continent, and supplanted Africa's own historical grain crops sorghum, millet, and rice. In the metamorphosis of maize from an exotic visitor into a quintessentially African crop, in its transformation from vegetable to grain, and from curiosity to staple, lies a revealing story of cultural adaptation. It has become indispensable to Africa's fields, storehouses, and diets, and has embedded itself in Africa's political, economic, and social relations. Index, bib, b/w illus, 289pp, USA. HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS.

53 edited papers by 88 authors from 25 countries provide a wealth of ideas and experiences concerning animal traction. B/w ill, tables, refs, index, 326pp, ZIMBABWE. INTERMEDIATE TECHNOLOGY PUBLICATIONS, 1853394831

Compares the agro-pastoral FulBe in Burkina Faso and the pastoral Maasai in Kenya, aiming to establish the relevance of the market conditions with which both these groups of livestock producers are confronted. Notes, tables, bib, 282pp, NETHERLANDS, THELA-THESIS.

Drawing on detailed case studies from Mali, Ethiopia and Zimbabwe, this collection questions evolutionary concepts, because they fail to recognise the diverse pathways of change that occur in agricultural systems, and the wide range of technology options that are pursued by farmers and herders. CONTENTS: Pathways of change: crop-livestock integration in Africa by Ian Scoones & William Wolmer - Crop-livestock integration in Mali: multiple pathways of change by Karen Brock, N'golo Coulibaly, Joshua Ramisch & William Wolmer - Complexity, change & continuity in southern Ethiopia: the case of crop-livestock integration by Grace Carswell - Crops, livestock & livelihoods in Zimbabwe by William Wolmer, Bevlyn Sithole & Billy Mukamuri - Crop-livestock policy in Africa: what is to be done? by Joshua Ramisch, James Keeley, Ian Scoones & William Wolmer. JAMES CURREY PUBLISHERS, 0852554222

Second edition. An essential guide to homestead agriculture, crop farming, and animal husbandry with an emphasis on sustainable agriculture. Simply written and well illustrated. Index, 250pp, SOUTH AFRICA. DAVID PHILIP.

An analysis of farming policies arguing that a period of neoliberal globalisation has brought about environmental degradation, rural depopulation in the North and rising rural poverty in the South. Index, app, gloss, bib, notes, xx, 240pp, UK. ZED BOOKS.

Review of the African agricultural markets and discusses how the reforms have affected growth and poverty and establishes ideas for how Africa can free itself from hunger. Index, refs, tables, figs, xvi, 201pp, USA. JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY PRESS, 0801871980

Essays offering an analysis of the dynamic use of natural resources in Africa. The contributors discusses why western intervention in sub Saharan rangelands and forests have often failed and shows that there is a deficiency in understanding how communities deal with their environment, land use and natural resources. Countries discussed are Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Malawi, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Namibia. Index, bib, tables, maps, xi, 212pp, UK. JAMES CURREY PUBLISHERS, 0852559151

Many of the current controversies over globalisation, intellectual property protec-tion, biotechnology and the future of farming are played out in seed provision. This book looks at the strengths and weaknesses of seed management in traditional farming systems, reviews the history of formal plant breeding and the origins of seed trade, and examines the roles of the public and private sectors in the con-temporary seed systems of industrialised and developing countries. It also de-scribes the major types of aid interventions in developing country seed systems and explains why many of these have not been successful. Figs, tables, notes, refs, index, viii, 174pp, UK. JAMES CURREY PUBLISHERS.

Although modern agricultural science was the key to reducing rural poverty in Asia, modern farm science, including biotechnology, has recently been kept out of Africa. This book explains why poor African farmers are denied access to productive technologies, particularly genetically engineered seeds with improved resistance to insects and drought. It traces this obstacle to the current opposition to farm science in prosperous countries. Foreword by Norman Borlaug and Jimmy Carter. Index, bib, 235pp, USA. HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS.

A handbook is based on experience of rural development support at local level in West Africa highlighting approaches and methodologies that were proven successful. The editors aim to empower development operators and local managers in defining new roles and approaches to planning, training and natural resource management. Each chapter ends with a guide for further reading. Diags, 320pp, SOUTH AFRICA. PROTEA BOOK HOUSE, 1919825924