Assessing Farmers' Knowledge of Weed Species, Crop Type and Soil Management Practices in Relation to Soil Quality Status in Mai‐Negus Catchment, Northern Ethiopia

Abstract

Soil quality (SQ) assessment from farmers' point of view can be used as a primary indicator for planning sustainable agriculture. Despite this fact, limited information is documented with regard to SQ indicators, for example weed species, crop types and management practices from farmers' knowledge perspectives. The aims of this study are to analyse factors that determine farmers' knowledge of SQ, identify SQ indicators of weed species and crop types across different SQ status and assess soil‐and‐crop management practices that maintain SQ in the Mai‐Negus catchment, northern Ethiopia. Fifty‐two farmer household heads were chosen randomly for questionnaire interview. The results showed significant (p ≤ 0·05) differences in the proportion of respondents who used different crop‐and‐soil management practices. The success of overall prediction by the logistic regression model (model χ2 = 0·84, p < 0·01) and level of model correct predictions (86%) indicated that the explanatory variables have sufficiently explained farmers' knowledge of SQ indicators. Provided that other conditions remained constant, the odds ratio of variables such as farmer experience, access to information, farm location, education, field slope and land tenure have significantly increased the likelihood of farmers for being knowledgeable of SQ indicators. This study also demonstrated that most farmers are knowledgeable in identifying weed species, crop types and management practices across various SQ status, which suggests that such SQ indicators should be used to assess SQ status (degradation severity) while locating fields to be intervened using appropriate management strategies. © 2013 The Authors. Land Degradation & Development published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Farmers’ perception on causes, indicators and determinants of climate change in northern Ethiopia: Implication for developing adaptation strategies

“…3. As farmers age increase the probability being illiteracy is high in both male and female household heads which is consistent with the previous report in northern Ethiopia (Tesfahunegn, Tamene, Vlek, & Mekonnen, 2016). The average family size of a household head was approximately 6.0 but this attribute significantly varied among the farmers between 3 and 9 ( Table 2).…”

Precision of farmer-based fertility ratings and soil organic carbon for crop production on a Ferralsol

“…This agrees with findings in Ethiopia that exhibited farmers' ingenuity in predicting soil fertility status based on experiences on crop yields, indicator plants, soil color or even soil softness (Karltun et al, 2013;Tesfahunegn et al, 2013). For this study, positive complementarities between indigenous and scientific knowledge can be considered much more reliable in soil fertility rating to plan for measures to combat land degradation (Tesfahunegn et al, 2011). Application of FFE using local knowledge alone is believed to be complex and multi-faceted, with much experiential trial and error (Payton et al, 2003).…”

“…Efforts that can boost SOC building and soil productivity using practices such as integrated soil fertility management are needed (Musinguzi et al, 2013;Vanlauwe and Zingore, 2011). For soils with medium and high fertility, the study suggests that farmers require scientific backing with SOC to overcome uncertainty in identifying such fields (Negatu and Parikh, 1999;Tesfahunegn et al, 2011). Although the FFE technique is known to be rapid, simple, less costly, and of relatively acceptable efficiency, it was only accurate in low-fertility soils and may not be singly applied in soil fertility management (Tesfahunegn et al, 2013).…”

“…For soils with medium and high fertility, the study suggests that farmers require scientific backing with SOC to overcome uncertainty in identifying such fields (Negatu and Parikh, 1999;Tesfahunegn et al, 2011). Although the FFE technique is known to be rapid, simple, less costly, and of relatively acceptable efficiency, it was only accurate in low-fertility soils and may not be singly applied in soil fertility management (Tesfahunegn et al, 2013). Use of SOC can increase confidence and reliability among tropical farmers.…”

“…The main ones are (i) use of local farmers' field experiences, with or without the support of experienced neighbors or front-line workers (Payton et al, 2003;Tesfahunegn et al, 2011); (ii) use of GIS technology with infrared spectroscopy for rapid soil analysis (Shepherd et al, 2003); and (iii) use of soil test kits and visual plant deficiency symptoms for rapid fertility assessment (Sanginga and Woomer, 2009). However, simple soil fertility rating using the FFE approach is reportedly most promising in predicting soil productivity (Karltun et al, 2013;Talawar and Rhoades, 1998;Tesfahunegn et al, 2011). The technique is affordable, rapid and simple to use since it is based on community indigenous knowledge (Corbeels et al, 2000;Payton et al, 2003;Schoonmaker Freudenberger, 1994).…”