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Abstract
This case study explores the development, dissemination, adoption, and impact of improved tree
fallows in rural western Kenya. The processes of technology development and dissemination
throughout the region are described and analyzed. To analyze adoption and impact, the paper
applies a variety of different data collection methods as well as samples from both pilot areas
where researchers maintained a significant presence and non-pilot areas where farmers learned of
the technologies through other channels. Sample sizes for the quantitative analysis ranged from
almost 2,000 households for measuring the adoption process to just over 100 households for
measuring impact indicators. Qualitative methods included long-term case studies for 40
households and focus group discussions involving 16 different groups. The paper describes the
ways in which farmers used and modified improved fallow practices. Discussion also examines
the types of households using fallows and benefiting from their use.
Empirical results suggest that improved fallows almost always double on-farm maize yields. In
addition, the data indicates that poor households use improved fallows at much greater rate
(about 30 percent) than they do fertilizer (8 percent), though, on average, the size of fallow plots
remains small, at 440m2. As a result, despite these promising signs, the improved fallow systems
were not found to be linked to improved household level food security or poverty indicators
primarily, primarily because the size of the fields under the agroforestry systems was on average,
quite small.