Appraisal of Issues Influencing Soil-Steps Application for Sustainable Farmland Management in High-Potential District, Ethiopia

Abstract

Soil damage by moving water is a somber predicament on farmlands in highland Ethiopia. Sizeable number of trial in farmland preservation has been executed to handle the crisis during the last tens of years. However, the attempts have not been vibrant to trim-down the danger to an attractive extent. This paper evaluates factors contributing to application of soil-steps (bunds) as sustainable farmland management technology (SFLMT) by smallholder farmers in one of the high-potential districts of northwest Ethiopia named Dangila Woreda (District). Mixed method triangulation designs involving concurrent acquisition and interpretation of quantitative and qualitative data were used in the study. Data were acquired from randomly chosen 201 farming households during the harvest seasons of 2011 and 2012. Ordered questionnaire, participatory field observation, key informant interview and focus group discussion were mechanisms employed during the data acquisition. Descriptive statistics (means, standard deviations and percentiles), Chi-square test, t-test and the binary logistic regression model were used to analyze the quantitative data. The qualitative information was textually narrated to augment the quantitative results. Findings of the investigation confirm that age of the household head, the number of household members, slope of the farmland, the size of the farmland held, households’ participation in indigenous labour-sharing activities and the number of farm tools owned were significantly increasing the building of soil-steps as SFLMT in the study district. Involvement in off-farm activities and pest invasions were considerably hindering farmers from building soil-steps on their farmlands. The results in general indicated that households’ access to livelihood assets are key promoters for farmers’ implementation of soil-steps on their farmlands. Local resource preservation and improvement trials should thus ponder on convalescing farmers’ material endowments to improve their capability to use soil-steps as SFLMT in their farming activities.

Woody species diversity and carbon stock of church forests along age gradient in Dangila district, Awi-zone, Ethiopia

“…The major soil types are Lithosols, Nitosols, Vertisols, Luvisols, Gleysols, Cambisols and rocky surfaces. The mean annual temperature and rainfall records were 17 °C and 1578 mm respectively ( Belay, 2018 ). The most common tree species were Eucalyptus camaldulensis, Croton macrostachyus, Albizia gummifera, Ritchiea albersii, Prunus africana, Cordia africana, Acacia abyssinica and Dracaena steudneri.…”

Church Forests Diversity and Biomass Carbon Stock Along Urbanization Continuum in Dangila District, Awi-Zone, Ethiopia

“…Plain land area is the most dominant followed by rugged lands. The mean annual temperature and rainfall records were 17 o C and 1578 mm respectively (Belay 2018). The total population of the district was 199,197 in mid-2017 of which 98,282 were females and 100,814 males (CSA 2013).…”

“…The total population of the district was 199,197 in mid-2017 of which 98,282 were females and 100,814 males (CSA 2013). Among these 23.64% people were residing in towns (Belay 2018). According to the characteristic species identi ed, the forest was categorized as dry evergreen Afromontane forest and grassland complex vegetation.…”