Stakeholders' perceptions ofopportunities and constraints to sustainable land managementin Ethiopia was assessed through interviews and a review ofsecondary data. Stakeholders included farmers as well asrepresentatives of development agencies, agriculturalorganizations, donors, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs),and agricultural research systems. Stakeholders generallyperceive that the numerous, well-intentioned but piecemealinterventions undertaken over the last few decades havecontributed little to reversing the negative spiral of landdegradation, for several reasons: 1) the top-down, nonparticipatory approach was generally unsuited to specificfarming systems; 2) most funding for sustainable landmanagement (SLM) was channeled to so-called'low-potential' areas, neglecting'high-potential' areas where serious landdegradation is now occurring; and 3) agricultural research,training, and extension were not sufficiently integrated. Inparticular, research, training, and extension institutionsare crop focused, top-down, and quota-driven; they lackinstitutional linkages with each other and interdisciplinarylinkages within their own walls; and thus they areineffective in addressing integrated soil/water andwatershed management issues. According to stakeholders,participatory, integrated, technically high-quality, andeconomically profitable interventions are needed to achievesustainable results.
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