Agroforestry for soil conservation, analyzes the theories that trees and shrubs have a potential to maintain soil fertility, not merely to prevent water and wind erosion.

The book's author, Anthony Young, a Principal Scientist at the International Council for Research in Agroforestry (ICRAF) and former Professor of Environmental Sciences at the University of East Anglia (UK), writes for a scientific and technical readership, summarizing the relationship between trees and soil and distinguishing between fact and hypothesis in agroforestry research. He concludes that, although appropriate agroforestry systems can control erosion, maintain organic matter in the soil and promote efficient nutrient cycling, much more evidence is still needed. The constraining factors on the effectiveness of agroforestry are not always physical, but also social, economic and technical.

Agroforestry for soil conservation draws together information from research, applied research and observation of real farm and forest conditions.

Agroforestry for soil conservation by Anthony Young 276pp 1989 reprinted 1990 ISBN 0 85198 648 X CAB International, Wallingford, Oxon OX10 8DE, UK

Teaching the rural poor about banking

Credit in rural developing areas is one of the linchpins of development. Those in the banking system must begin to examine the potential of the farmers and rural poor to organize themselves and mobilize their internal resources to help themselves.

If rural self-help groups could be taught to do banking among those with a very low-income who need credit to have any hope of success in their agricultural project, then they themselves could handle much of the consumption and short-term financing requirements. Formal banking institutions could then devote themselves to their developmental role by focusing on investment finance.

This partnership between financial self-help groups and banking institutions is the thesis of Linking self-help groups and banks in developing countries, a joint GTZ and Asian and Pacific Regional Agricultural Credit Association (APRACA) publication The book attempts to summarize some ideas on such linkages and show some of the underlying concepts and results evolved (using APRACA projects as examples), an; to persuade other banking institutions to investigate possible partnerships of their own.

Linking self-help groups and banks in developing countries by E Kropp, Michael Marx Ballurkar Pramod Benjamin Ouinones and Hans Dieter Seibel, 155pp 1989 GTZ/APRACA ISBN 3 88085 418 1 APRACA, Maliwan Mansions, Phra Atit Road, Bangkok 10200, THAILAND or GTZ, Postfach 5180 D-6367 Karben 1, GERMANY

Basics of dairying in the Tropics

When Dairy technology in the Tropics and Subtropics was published in 1988 it provided handbook and textbook for countries with a developing dairy industry, it aimed to be corn prehensive in its coverage of dairy technology.

The book's great recommendation was that it focused on the interaction of the technical and technological aspects of mill handling, milk processing and related subjects. It covered the basics of dairy chemistry, physics and microbiology, together with the handling and processing of milk at farm level, collection and quality control Emphasis was placed on small scale dairying operations, and domestic production other than bovine.