Although in-situ conservation is increasingly considered an efficient way of conserving plant genetic resources, little is known about the incentives and constraints that govern conservation decisions among small farm holders in developing countries.

This paper uses a farm level panel data from Ethiopia and a comprehensive empirical strategy to investigate the contribution of crop biodiversity on food production.

We find that increasing the number of crop variety increases production. This result is stronger when rainfall level is lower. Moreover, the productivity analysis is complemented with the study of the determinants of farm level crop biodiversity. Empirical results suggest that rainfall, tenure security and household endowments tend to govern crop diversity decisions at the farm level.

Using a choice experiment approach, the authors investigated what governs Ethiopian farmers’ in-situ conservation decisions and crop-variety preferences.

Explaining soil capital facilitates a better understanding of constraints and opportunities for increased agricultural production and reduced land degradation. The diversity in farmers’ soil capital, production strategies, and general farming systems (including conservation investments) points to the value of internalizing these aspects in the formulation of the government’s policies and extension advice on sustainable agriculture.

Land degradation in the form of soil erosion and nutrient depletion presents a threat to food security and sustainability of agricultural production in many developing countries. Governments and development agencies have invested substantial resources to promote soil conservation practices as part of an effort to improve environmental conditions and reduce poverty.

Namibia is currently in the process of phasing out water subsidies in its government-sponsored irrigation schemes. However, the financial effects on the affected farmers are frequently unclear, and so are the economic effects on society as a whole.

The net back method provides a framework for estimating rough values of irrigation water in situations such as those in Namibian agriculture, where farmers face a number of constraints which are difficult to model explicitly due to the dearth of reliable data.