A Benefit-Cost Analysis (BCA) was undertaken to assess the returns to land management practices of major land use types, namely forests, rangelands, and selected crops (rice, maize, cotton, and millet). Also the public expenditure on SLM was reviewed and an assessment carried out how the expenditure is aligned to land policies and how it is targeted to land degradation hotspots. The results show that, without some form of incentives for communities around forests in Sikasso, farmers will continue to clear the forest and plant maize. This underscores the importance of providing payments for ecosystem services for communities in the proximity of forests in Sikasso. Rotational grazing increases the average forage biomass by 7 percent to 20 percent. However, even for rotation grazing, forage biomass shows a declining trend, underscoring the severe overgrazing problem. This suggests rotational grazing alone may not be able to fully address the area's declining pasture quality. BCA of crops shows that for maize, rice, and cotton, land management practices that combine fertilizer, manure, and crop residues are more profitable and competitive than those which use any of the three practices alone.