Farmers’ perceptions of climate change and its implication on livestock production in mixed-farming system areas of Bale highlands, Southeast Ethiopia; Challenges and extents of Soil and Water Conservation measures in Guba-Lafto Woreda of North Wollo, Ethiopia; Evaluation of milk production performance of lactating Fogera cows fed with urea and effective micro-organisms treated rice straw as basal diet.

E3 Journal of Agricultural Research and Development

E3 Journal of Agricultural Research and Development Vol. 7 (2) pp. 0103-0110, April 2017; © E3 Journals; ISSN 2276-9897
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18685/EJARD(7)2_EJARD-16-012

Challenges and extents of Soil and Water Conservation measures in Guba-Lafto Woreda of North Wollo, Ethiopia

Belay Asnake 1 * , Eyasu Elias 1
1 Department of Natural Resource Management, Samara University, College of Dry Land Agriculture, Semera, P.O.Box 132, Ethiopia
2 Associate Professor at Centre for Environmental Science, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, P.O.Box 1176, Ethiopia
*Corresponding Author E-mail: belayasnake2005@gmail.com
Accepted 24 February 2017

Abstract

This study was conducted to assess the main challenges and extents of implementation of soil and water conservation measures (SWC) measures in Guba-Lafto Woreda of North Wollo, Ethiopia. Two case study kebeles were purposively selected representing Dega (highland) and Woina dega (midland) agro ecological zones. A total of 130 households were selected for farmer level assessment of the main challenges and level of implementation of SWC measures. The study found that the major SWC measures being employed in were physical SWC measures (stone bund, hillside terrace, micro water ponds, stone faced soil bund, check dam, and fanya-juu terrace); agronomic conservation measures (contour farming, agroforestry, mixed cropping, and crop rotation) ; and biological conservation measures (afforestation, area closure, and grass strip). This study also indicates that, even if the adopted SWC measures were essential to enhance soil fertility, lack of awareness on SWC, land shortage, labour shortage, and wealth status of the farmers were challenging the households to implement SWC practices on their farmlands. Following these, farmers need to be encouraged to implement SWC measures through the use of the productive safety net and Food-for Work payments. Ethiopian federal and local governments should also support and encourage different interventions like increasing fallowing period, reducing intensive cultivation in hilly land, integrated use of SWC practices, and extension of micro-irrigation systems to replenish the degraded soil characteristics and to improve crop production.

Keywords: challenges, extents, Soil and water conservation measures,

[Download Article - PDF]
ABOUT e3journals

E3 Journals is an open access initiative comprising hundreds of volunteers in many countries to enhance the dissemination of research. The heart of the project is a decentralized database, journal articles and software components. All articles published by E3 Journals will be peer-reviewed.

BOTTOM NAVIGATION