In Ethiopia, land degradation is a serious problem that affects both overall economic growth and agricultural output. Even while nutrient depletion, soil erosion, and deteriorating soil quality are serious issues, many land conservation initiatives today neglect to consider the expertise of farmers and local requirements. This study's primary goal was to evaluate farmers' knowledge of land degradation and their practice of soil and water conservation techniques in Ethiopia's Hidebu Abote. Data were gathered through focus groups, key informant interviews, household surveys, secondary data analysis, and focus groups. According to the findings, over 75% of the participants were aware of the factors that contribute to land degradation, such as poverty, rocky terrain, bad farming techniques, overgrazing, overcultivation, and soil erosion. Farmers used techniques such as contour farming, fallowing, fanyajuu, cut-off drains, soil bunds, and manure application in addition to more modern methods of conserving water and soil. The adoption of soil and water conservation methods by farmers was impacted by several factors such as age, gender, size of family, educational background, NGOs' incentives, farm size, land tenure, and distance from homestead. The study indicates that encouraging farmers to manage and conserve their land should be the priority for any policy or program aiming at land resource management and soil conservation. Policymakers and development professionals can use the findings as guidance to create efficient interventions to alleviate land degradation in the research area and other comparable contexts.
| Published in | International Journal of Environmental Protection and Policy (Volume 12, Issue 5) |
| DOI | 10.11648/j.ijepp.20241205.13 |
| Page(s) | 139-151 |
| Creative Commons |
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited. |
| Copyright |
Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group |
Farmer’s Awareness, Land Degradation, Land Management, Soil Conservation, Soil Erosion
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APA Style
Ararsa, F., Debele, C. (2024). Farmers' Awareness of Land Degradation and Adoption of Soil and Water Conservation Practices in Hidebu Abote, Ethiopia. International Journal of Environmental Protection and Policy, 12(5), 139-151. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijepp.20241205.13
ACS Style
Ararsa, F.; Debele, C. Farmers' Awareness of Land Degradation and Adoption of Soil and Water Conservation Practices in Hidebu Abote, Ethiopia. Int. J. Environ. Prot. Policy 2024, 12(5), 139-151. doi: 10.11648/j.ijepp.20241205.13
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Download@article{10.11648/j.ijepp.20241205.13,
author = {Feyisa Ararsa and Chala Debele},
title = {Farmers' Awareness of Land Degradation and Adoption of Soil and Water Conservation Practices in Hidebu Abote, Ethiopia},
journal = {International Journal of Environmental Protection and Policy},
volume = {12},
number = {5},
pages = {139-151},
doi = {10.11648/j.ijepp.20241205.13},
url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijepp.20241205.13},
eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijepp.20241205.13},
abstract = {In Ethiopia, land degradation is a serious problem that affects both overall economic growth and agricultural output. Even while nutrient depletion, soil erosion, and deteriorating soil quality are serious issues, many land conservation initiatives today neglect to consider the expertise of farmers and local requirements. This study's primary goal was to evaluate farmers' knowledge of land degradation and their practice of soil and water conservation techniques in Ethiopia's Hidebu Abote. Data were gathered through focus groups, key informant interviews, household surveys, secondary data analysis, and focus groups. According to the findings, over 75% of the participants were aware of the factors that contribute to land degradation, such as poverty, rocky terrain, bad farming techniques, overgrazing, overcultivation, and soil erosion. Farmers used techniques such as contour farming, fallowing, fanyajuu, cut-off drains, soil bunds, and manure application in addition to more modern methods of conserving water and soil. The adoption of soil and water conservation methods by farmers was impacted by several factors such as age, gender, size of family, educational background, NGOs' incentives, farm size, land tenure, and distance from homestead. The study indicates that encouraging farmers to manage and conserve their land should be the priority for any policy or program aiming at land resource management and soil conservation. Policymakers and development professionals can use the findings as guidance to create efficient interventions to alleviate land degradation in the research area and other comparable contexts.},
year = {2024}
}
TY - JOUR T1 - Farmers' Awareness of Land Degradation and Adoption of Soil and Water Conservation Practices in Hidebu Abote, Ethiopia AU - Feyisa Ararsa AU - Chala Debele Y1 - 2024/10/29 PY - 2024 N1 - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijepp.20241205.13 DO - 10.11648/j.ijepp.20241205.13 T2 - International Journal of Environmental Protection and Policy JF - International Journal of Environmental Protection and Policy JO - International Journal of Environmental Protection and Policy SP - 139 EP - 151 PB - Science Publishing Group SN - 2330-7536 UR - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijepp.20241205.13 AB - In Ethiopia, land degradation is a serious problem that affects both overall economic growth and agricultural output. Even while nutrient depletion, soil erosion, and deteriorating soil quality are serious issues, many land conservation initiatives today neglect to consider the expertise of farmers and local requirements. This study's primary goal was to evaluate farmers' knowledge of land degradation and their practice of soil and water conservation techniques in Ethiopia's Hidebu Abote. Data were gathered through focus groups, key informant interviews, household surveys, secondary data analysis, and focus groups. According to the findings, over 75% of the participants were aware of the factors that contribute to land degradation, such as poverty, rocky terrain, bad farming techniques, overgrazing, overcultivation, and soil erosion. Farmers used techniques such as contour farming, fallowing, fanyajuu, cut-off drains, soil bunds, and manure application in addition to more modern methods of conserving water and soil. The adoption of soil and water conservation methods by farmers was impacted by several factors such as age, gender, size of family, educational background, NGOs' incentives, farm size, land tenure, and distance from homestead. The study indicates that encouraging farmers to manage and conserve their land should be the priority for any policy or program aiming at land resource management and soil conservation. Policymakers and development professionals can use the findings as guidance to create efficient interventions to alleviate land degradation in the research area and other comparable contexts. VL - 12 IS - 5 ER -
World Agroforestry Center (CIFOR-ICRAF), Ethiopia Country Office, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Department of Sustainable Natural Resource Management, Mattu University, Mattu, Ethiopia
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