Policies and incentives for the adoption of improved fallows

Policies play a strong role in providing incentives and disincentives for f armers to invest in improved fallow systems along with other agroforestry s ystems. The aim of this paper is to raise a number of policy issues relevan t to the adoption and impact of improved fallow systems and then to identif y several options for policy makers to create a policy environment, which a ddresses market failures and alleviates disincentives for adoption of impro ved fallow systems. Policy issues are organized around six key criteria for adoption of any natural resource management practice by decision makers: ( i) awareness of a natural resource problem, (ii) importance of the resource , (iii) willingness to invest (e.g., long-term tenure rights), (iv) capacit y to invest (e.g., labor or land), (v) economic incentives (e.g., technical performance and attractive prices), and (vi) support services (e.g., exten sion or germplasm availability). The analysis across these themes is multi- scale, addressing issues at the plot, farm, community, and regional/nationa l levels. Key areas for getting policies right with respect to improved fal lows are mineral fertilizer policy, planting material production and distri bution, and property rights to ensure that farmers can invest in fallows an d reap the benefits.