EROSIONS DIFFER

Soil erosion in a tropical environment was one of the first fields of action of colonial administrations and still is a major theme in rural development projects. Without denying the importance of our scientifi c knowledge or the efficiency of our techniques, one may however ask o neself at least two questions. At first about our view of the problem: is it not a strongly ethnocentric view, which leads us to overlook th e rural communities' approach and outlook? And secondly about the figh t against erosion: is it not mandatory as a preliminary step and long before any technical help is given, that the economic and social malfu nctions be solved, of which erosion is so often the sign?