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In Mexico, 45 percent of the country suffers from land degradation, 12 percent of which, or some 23 million ha, are degraded due to water erosion. In Michoacán, a state in west-central Mexico, the figure rises to 27 percent. A study of the soil in Michoacán determined that overgrazing was a cause of degradation and a strategy was drawn up to promote cropping of agave, which is used in production of a high-value alcoholic drink as well as in medicines and cosmetics. The agave’s high value would mean farmers would need fewer cattle. While waiting for the agave to mature, the farmers intercrop trees, plants and grasses that produce marketable products and women earn income in greenhouses by selling small agaves from the seeds they have collected. This project, which started in 2011, is still ongoing.

Smallholder farmers in the Taita hills and Mount Kilimanjaro recognize the need to conserve soil nutrients of fields and farms located in the upper, middle and lower zones of mountainous areas. These mountain communities depend on rain-fed subsistence agriculture which means that for sustainable subsistence crop production, they also depend on nutrient availability and use efficiency in farming households. A study under way in the area has looked at loss of land cover and infestations of plant pests and diseases and is using this information to raise farmers’ awareness of soil fertility and to introduce best cropping practices.