The Economics of Dryland Management focuses on the people who live and farm/herd in drylands, their use of land resources and the economic returns from their land use decisions. It also attempts a clear and thorough economic appraisal of how it is still possible to arrest the problems of drylands. No single book could reasonably be expected to do all this adequately. ?he Economics of Dryland man- agement does not, but it does go quite some way towards such goals and is an excellent up-to-date synthesis of the work of numerous researchers. Although the book is aimed at project analysts, economists, planners and programme development officers, it should be of value and interest to a much wider readership.
This book attempts to provide the information necessary for understanding the complex problems of drylands and explains how economic analysis might help resolve them. The economic assessment and planning techniques outlined address all levels of application from peasant farmer/herder up to national development planning level. The planning and economics coverage is clear and illustrated with helpful examples, including a case study of benefit-cost analysis applied to soil conservation in Lesotho (chapter 1 I), consequently most non-economists and non-planners should be able to follow the material. The publishers plan to release a second volume, Dryland Management: Economic Case Studies, in the not too distant future, which is intended to illustrate the application of economic principles and techniques to drylands to find solutions to management problems.
In order to place this book in context, it is necessary to outline the developments in dryland