• The intrinsically low fertility of Afkan soils and their highly heterogenous nature, consisting of oxisols, ultisols, alfisols, vertisols, aridisols and inceptisols, tends to limit land use and crop choice as wel1 as nutrient-supplying capacity (Munns and Franco, 1981).

• The poor fertility of the sandy soils found in the Sahel has always ensured a role for ruminant livestock in traditional soil management practices.

• Historically, capital has proceeded to "appropriate" elements of the productive process, replacing natural pest control with pesticides, natural soil fertility with chemical fertilizers, and so forth (Goodman and Redclift 1991).