Ways Forward? Technical Choices, Intervention Strategies and Policy Options 385of these are focused at farm and field level, while others relate to wider policy and
macro-level changes. An analysis that cuts across scales – from the micro to the
macro – and across intervention areas – from technical to institutional – is essen-
tial if the appropriate mix is to be found. As we have seen, however, much of
emphasis in the past – and persisting to the present – has focused on technical
options derived from a limited view of soil management emanating from soil and
agronomic studies. The emphasis on inorganic chemical fertilizers is perhaps the
dominant example of such an approach, although it could be argued that the low
external input and organic farming perspective suffers from a similar weakness and
narrowness of vision.
Any technical options, then, need to be seen in a broader context. This points
to the importance of a wider socioeconomic and institutional analysis, asking who
gains and who loses from different options? How are different intervention options
linked into broader patterns of livelihood change? Which combination of institu-
tional and policy factors operate and interact at different levels, and how do they
help direct farmers along more desirable pathways of change?
Strategies for Integrated Soil-fertility Management:
Following a Phased Approach
As previous sections have shown, a long-term strategy for integrated soil-fertility
management needs to take account of a wide range of factors, from the macro to
the micro, and across a huge range of policy areas. Such a strategy needs to con-
sider how to implement such a range of measures over time, and best link local-
level practice and national level policy. This would allow for the design of a set of
interventions to be implemented, which are tailored to particular settings and able
to adapt to changing circumstances.^3 A phased strategy would therefore need to
start with a period of participatory planning and assessment, the development of
new skills, and be linked to a series of decisions regarding the appropriate scale and
vehicle for intervention.
A first step would be an initial assessment of context and constraints to identify
the biophysical, socioeconomic and institutional characteristics of the district,
province or commune where work is planned. In parallel, a macro-level analysis is
needed of policies which affect the pattern of incentives for farmers to manage
their soils more sustainably, given the range of other opportunities and constraints
they face, in the agricultural sector and elsewhere. At farm and community levels,
participatory planning and analysis enables local people, researchers and extension
staff to identify a set of activities which farmers want to try, and to establish meth-
ods for joint reflection and evaluation. Experience with participatory extension
approaches in combination with farmer field schools provides a variety of practical
tools for supporting farmers in the analysis of problems, choice of options to test