Livelihood strategies and assets of small farmers in the evaluation of soil and water management practices in the temperate inter-Andean valleys of Bolivia

This paper explores the social and economic factors that influence househol d responses to soil and water conservation technologies. It is based on a c ase study from the Cochabamba Department of Bolivia. The importance of unde rstanding the effects of socioeconomic variation on household decision-maki ng processes is underlined and a selection of frameworks used in illustrati ng these differences is presented. These include analysis of rural liveliho od strategies, farming systems, and households' characteristics as ways of identifying farmer recommendation domains. Although such methodologies are theoretically useful, collection of the necessary field data can be problem atic. Analysis of household decision making based on semi-structured interv iews and informal discussions provided the basis for economic analysis usin g the actual costs and benefits faced by farmers. Soil and water conservati on technologies are likely to be viable only in the more intensive farming systems at low discount rates and are unlikely to be adopted by the resourc e poorest. In less intensive systems, especially where irrigation is not av ailable, adoption is likely to be low. For widespread adoption technologies need to be low cost, productivity enhancing, and risk reducing in the shor t term.