The Future of Smallholder Farming in Eastern Africa - Uganda ...

6. Implications for policy and program design and conclusions
In this chapter, policy implications and the program design are discussed in the light of the
results obtained in Chapters 4 and 5. The conclusions follow. It can be inferred from the
results that program design should be multifaceted. That is, in addition to focusing on soil
and water conservation policies, the policy package should consider the potential role of
social capital.
6.1 Policy and program design implications
The results of this study show the importance of social capital in soil conservation. This
implies that attempting to examine the driving forces behind investments in soil conservation
without considering social capital could lead to partial understanding, incorrect conclusions,
and wrong policy prescriptions.
Just as good technical design of projects requires a thorough analysis of the physical
conditions in which the project will operate, so too does good socioeconomic design require
understanding of the institutional context, including social capital. It is important to
determine how effective social capital is for sustaining soil conservation. If such programs or
designs are to be successful, care should be taken to understand the different forms of social
capital and how they can be enhanced and mobilized.. However, it should be kept in mind
that these elements are not static; new groups are formed while others become
dormant.Policy interventions should be expected to change these patterns. Differences in
project performance or success may not only result from differences in agroecological
conditions or locations; social capital may also play a role. Social capital formation is linked
to differential access to education, credit, markets, time, or labor. Unless these differences are
also addressed, increasing investments in soil conservation may not lead to improvements.
Projects also need to ensure that there is appropriate infrastructure to support the entry of
NGOs and the formation of viable groups.
Approaches to encourage participation are now a part of all soil conservation
programs in Kenya. The Ministry of Agriculture trains farmers in soil erosion conservation
measures. Following a catchment approach, they promote the creation of village soil
conservation committees, which then establish soil conservation structures on farms. Projects
and programs must find ways to build up the skills, enthusiasm, and knowledge of farmers.
Forcing technologies on farmers without their involvement is likely to fail, even when they
are technically appropriate. Farmers often reject such technologies when the external pressure
is removed.
If membership density has an observable impact on the adoption of sustainable land
management technologies, then there is a case for providing incentives to encourage their
development and sustainability. The policy implication, thus, hinges on increasing
membership density in the household either by joining existing groups or forming new ones.
Given that most groups are limited in membership due to the need for effective management,
it is the contention of this study that formation of groups, whether formal or informal, should
be facilitated and encouraged. Household members should be encouraged to join existing
groups. However, we posit that the size of the group, as focus group discussions revealed, is
an important issue. Groups should be small enough to keep transaction and communication
costs low, but large enough to cover costs of operation. When starting with a few members,
fixed costs of cooperation per member are at their highest and decrease as the number of
members increases, which fosters cooperation. Eventually, however, the lower fixed costs per
member will be offset by increasing variable costs of cooperation, which increase because of
the time needed to coordinate activities, negotiate decisions, agree on procedures for
implementation, and monitor and enforce rules.