ABSTRACT
An approach to technology generation which has exerted considerable influence upon agricultural research in developing countries is Farming Systems Research and Extension. Farming systems methodologies, however constituted, take the farm as the unit of production and the household as the unit of consumption, and base research priorities upon the goals of these units, in light of the constraints to achieve these goals presented by the natural and human environments. A general introduction to the Kingdom of Swaziland – land and people–is followed by a description of the general characteristics of and variations within maize and cotton production systems. Geologically, Swaziland is composed of igneous and metamorphic rocks of the Basement Complex. Acid, shallow, sandy soils cover about 50% of the country. The human population of Swaziland was estimated in 1976 to be approximately 492,570. The annual growth rate has been estimated at 3.2%, one of the highest in Africa: the population is expected to double by the year 2000.
