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Farmer’s Perception on Soil Erosion and Land Degradation Problems and Management Practices in the Beressa Watershed of Ethiopia

Received: 23 July 2016     Accepted: 2 August 2016     Published: 13 September 2016
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Abstract

In Ethiopia erosion and land degradation on the livelihood resource had become a key issue, resulted for food insecurity and difficult to break through the poverty gap using subsistence farming. Previously implemented soil and water conservation practice were not halted the threat, because it was mass mobilization without detailed study of real situation and without convicting farmers. Over sighting the past experience, community based watershed management practice was recommended as a possible option against the ongoing problem. Therefore, this paper analyzed farmer’s perception on soil erosion and degradation problems and their management practice. From 92 randomly selected households using survey, formal and informal discussion with farmers and field observation were employed to generate the data. The result indicated that farmers were acknowledged the prevalence of soil erosion and land degradation in their watershed (93.5%) and affecting their livelihoods. However, mostly they noticed erosion and degradation when it forms gullies. They identified many prominent causes for natural resource degradation such as improper conservation practice, traditional farming practice, continuous cultivation without fallow periods, deforestation and over population. To tackle the ongoing problems, many ranges of conservation technologies were used by farmers. Following the intervention and rehabilitation practice, the rate of erosion and degradation overtime moderately reduced (58.7%). Though the practice was not demand driven and site specific management practice. Finally, this study concluded important points which needs immediate consideration for community based watershed management practice effort not only for the study area but also for the country at large are: Identifying and integrating technical as well as efficiency of indigenous and site specific and demand driven technology help to cope erosion and degradation hazard –hence increase short and long term benefit obtained from the practice.

Published in Journal of Water Resources and Ocean Science (Volume 5, Issue 5)
DOI 10.11648/j.wros.20160505.11
Page(s) 64-72
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), 2016. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Community Watershed Management, Erosion and Degradation, Farmer’s Perception, Conservation Technology, Ethiopia

References
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Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Tesfa Worku Meshesha, Sangharsh Kumar Tripathi. (2016). Farmer’s Perception on Soil Erosion and Land Degradation Problems and Management Practices in the Beressa Watershed of Ethiopia. Journal of Water Resources and Ocean Science, 5(5), 64-72. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.wros.20160505.11

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    ACS Style

    Tesfa Worku Meshesha; Sangharsh Kumar Tripathi. Farmer’s Perception on Soil Erosion and Land Degradation Problems and Management Practices in the Beressa Watershed of Ethiopia. J. Water Resour. Ocean Sci. 2016, 5(5), 64-72. doi: 10.11648/j.wros.20160505.11

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    AMA Style

    Tesfa Worku Meshesha, Sangharsh Kumar Tripathi. Farmer’s Perception on Soil Erosion and Land Degradation Problems and Management Practices in the Beressa Watershed of Ethiopia. J Water Resour Ocean Sci. 2016;5(5):64-72. doi: 10.11648/j.wros.20160505.11

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  • @article{10.11648/j.wros.20160505.11,
      author = {Tesfa Worku Meshesha and Sangharsh Kumar Tripathi},
      title = {Farmer’s Perception on Soil Erosion and Land Degradation Problems and Management Practices in the Beressa Watershed of Ethiopia},
      journal = {Journal of Water Resources and Ocean Science},
      volume = {5},
      number = {5},
      pages = {64-72},
      doi = {10.11648/j.wros.20160505.11},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.wros.20160505.11},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.wros.20160505.11},
      abstract = {In Ethiopia erosion and land degradation on the livelihood resource had become a key issue, resulted for food insecurity and difficult to break through the poverty gap using subsistence farming. Previously implemented soil and water conservation practice were not halted the threat, because it was mass mobilization without detailed study of real situation and without convicting farmers. Over sighting the past experience, community based watershed management practice was recommended as a possible option against the ongoing problem. Therefore, this paper analyzed farmer’s perception on soil erosion and degradation problems and their management practice. From 92 randomly selected households using survey, formal and informal discussion with farmers and field observation were employed to generate the data. The result indicated that farmers were acknowledged the prevalence of soil erosion and land degradation in their watershed (93.5%) and affecting their livelihoods. However, mostly they noticed erosion and degradation when it forms gullies. They identified many prominent causes for natural resource degradation such as improper conservation practice, traditional farming practice, continuous cultivation without fallow periods, deforestation and over population. To tackle the ongoing problems, many ranges of conservation technologies were used by farmers. Following the intervention and rehabilitation practice, the rate of erosion and degradation overtime moderately reduced (58.7%). Though the practice was not demand driven and site specific management practice. Finally, this study concluded important points which needs immediate consideration for community based watershed management practice effort not only for the study area but also for the country at large are: Identifying and integrating technical as well as efficiency of indigenous and site specific and demand driven technology help to cope erosion and degradation hazard –hence increase short and long term benefit obtained from the practice.},
     year = {2016}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Farmer’s Perception on Soil Erosion and Land Degradation Problems and Management Practices in the Beressa Watershed of Ethiopia
    AU  - Tesfa Worku Meshesha
    AU  - Sangharsh Kumar Tripathi
    Y1  - 2016/09/13
    PY  - 2016
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.wros.20160505.11
    DO  - 10.11648/j.wros.20160505.11
    T2  - Journal of Water Resources and Ocean Science
    JF  - Journal of Water Resources and Ocean Science
    JO  - Journal of Water Resources and Ocean Science
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    EP  - 72
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2328-7993
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.wros.20160505.11
    AB  - In Ethiopia erosion and land degradation on the livelihood resource had become a key issue, resulted for food insecurity and difficult to break through the poverty gap using subsistence farming. Previously implemented soil and water conservation practice were not halted the threat, because it was mass mobilization without detailed study of real situation and without convicting farmers. Over sighting the past experience, community based watershed management practice was recommended as a possible option against the ongoing problem. Therefore, this paper analyzed farmer’s perception on soil erosion and degradation problems and their management practice. From 92 randomly selected households using survey, formal and informal discussion with farmers and field observation were employed to generate the data. The result indicated that farmers were acknowledged the prevalence of soil erosion and land degradation in their watershed (93.5%) and affecting their livelihoods. However, mostly they noticed erosion and degradation when it forms gullies. They identified many prominent causes for natural resource degradation such as improper conservation practice, traditional farming practice, continuous cultivation without fallow periods, deforestation and over population. To tackle the ongoing problems, many ranges of conservation technologies were used by farmers. Following the intervention and rehabilitation practice, the rate of erosion and degradation overtime moderately reduced (58.7%). Though the practice was not demand driven and site specific management practice. Finally, this study concluded important points which needs immediate consideration for community based watershed management practice effort not only for the study area but also for the country at large are: Identifying and integrating technical as well as efficiency of indigenous and site specific and demand driven technology help to cope erosion and degradation hazard –hence increase short and long term benefit obtained from the practice.
    VL  - 5
    IS  - 5
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • Department of Water resource and Irrigation Management, Debre Berhan University, Debre Berehan, Ethiopia

  • Department of Water Resources Development and Management, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Roorkee, Uttarakhand, India

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