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This book explores the relationship between the land use choices of small-scale farmers and the rate of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. Although sustainable agriculture was introduced to the Amazon area about 10 years ago, it has been adopted by only a few farmers. Jill L. Caviglia analyses why this practice has not been more widely adopted and offers policy prescriptions to address this.

The major source of deforestation in the Amazon is the use of slash-and-burn agriculture by small-scale farmers. The adoption of sustainable agriculture by these farmers could reduce the rate of deforestation dramatically. The author uses new, original case studies of farms in the area to estimate the probability of the adoption of sustainable agriculture and, once the adoption decision has been made, the intensity of adoption. The author finds that this is influenced greatly by farmer organizations and by providing the farmers with the knowledge that sustainable agriculture is a viable alternative to slash-and-burn practices.

This book will be of great interest to scholars and policymakers in the areas of environmental economics, environmental policy and Latin American studies.