The effects of biological soil conservation practices and community. Getachew agegnehu ethiopian institute of agricultural research. A gis based slope analysis for recommended soil and water. Metu district abstract land degradation is one of the major challenges in agricultural production in many parts of the world, especially in developing nations like ethiopia. Its economy is based mainly on agriculture providing employment for over 80% of the labor force which accounts for a little over 50% of the gdp gross domestic product. Soil quality assessment strategies for evaluating soil. Improving nutrition in ethiopia through plant breeding and. Farmers knowledge of soil fertility and local management. Box 395, nakemte, ethiopia 2haramaya university, school. Response of barley to liming of acid soils collected from different land use systems of western oromia, ethiopia achalu chimdi1, heluf gebrekidan2, kibebew kibret2, abi tadesse3 1wollega university, p. The present study portrays a soil sequence of the central section of the main ethiopian rift valley, from the footslopes of the eastern escarpment to the marginal volcano structures. Assessment of farmers practices on soil erosion control and soil fertility improvement in rift valley areas of east shoa and west arsi zones of oromia, ethiopia 1tesfaye gemechu and 2kasahun kitila 1agricultural extension researcher at adami tulu agricultural research center, ziway, ethiopia, 2soil and water conservation researcher at atarc. Ethiopia establishes a soil information service based on.
Soil and water conservation in ethiopia springerlink. The soil pool loses 1100 mt c into the atmosphere as a result of soil erosion and another 300. Abstract soil conservation in ethiopia is considered today to be of top priority, not only to maintain and improve agricultural production but also to achieve food selfsufficiency, which is the longterm objective of the agricultural development programme. Farmers perception on the role of vetiver grass in soil and water cons ervation in south western ethiopia. The soil and water resources of ethiopia although, still rich, is going through fast. Most of the saltaffected soils in middle awash valley have high silt content. Adams introduction this paper emerges from a brief desk study prior to a threemonth assignment in ethiopia in order to appraise a rural development programme with a large soil conservation and social forestry component. Soil and water conservation in ethiopia hurni h, berhe wa, chadhokar p, daniel d, gete z, grunder m, kassaye g. It is hoped that the da and field staff in general will improve the content and style of the book in due course. Impacts of soil and water conservation practices on. One of the major constraints to crop production faced by smallholder subsistence. Soil erosion soil and water science university of florida.
Response of barley to liming of acid soils collected from. Since irrigation is not feasible, ethiopias best hope for increasing food production is increasing the efficiency of rainfall harvesting. Soil fertility work in ethiopia jointly prepared by dr christy van beek and dr rebbie hawara, july 2014 this document is written as a discussion starter for dr bashir jama agra and remko vonk wur in september 2014 to explore the options to pilot the fertile grounds initiative in ethiopia. During the ethiopia soil week 16 21 november 2015 various activities including a panel discussion on soil health management, field visits to farms and research institutes, and workshops on conservation agriculture, the role of soil in the sustainable development goals sdgs, and other topics will take place. Impacts of soil and water conservation practices on livelihood.
Providing increased soil organic matter from root, stem and leaf drops when systematically worked into the soil. The teams will travel to 97 sentinel sites all over the country, collect samples, and transport the soils to federal and regional labs for analysis. This study compared soil quality within culturally protected forest areas and adjacent grassland, grazing land, and farmland in abowonsho, southern ethiopia. Studies on soil physical properties of salt affected soil in. As might be imagined population growth has positive and negative effects on development. Effects of land use changes on soil quality and native flora degradation and restoration in the highlands of ethiopia. The article contains information about the traditional soil conservation practices, the reasons for intervention with traditional soil conservation technologies, the historical background of instutionalized soil conservation activities, the institutional. The first type is composed of euritic nitosols and andosols and is found on portions of the western and eastern highlands. Soil fertility characterization in vertisols of southern. Institutional context for soil resources management in ethiopia.
A soil degradation index is derived from an ordered qualitative classification on the degree of. The estimated range of losses through soil degradation for two important crops is shown in table 2a. Watershed management experiences in amhara region, ethiopia. Existing soil maps in ethiopia are obsolete with limited soil fertility information and need to be updated using contemporary technologies and analysis each 10 by 10 km sampling site is divided into randomly assigned clusters for soil sample collection. The study was conducted in lisenasena village lemo district hadiya zone. Soil and water conservation management through indigenous. A gis based slope analysis for recommended soil and water conservation techniques in sekela district, amhara state, ethiopia abineh tilahun1 and bogale teferie2 1department of geography and environmental studies, adigrat university, ethiopia. Soil fertility status and wheat nutrient content in vertisol. Status of selected physicochemical properties of soils under. Pdf integrated soil management practices in rehablitating. Effect of soil and water conservation measures and challenges. Guidelines and associated factors in hadiya zone, southern.
Box 395, nekemte, ethiopia 2haramaya university, school of natural resources management and environmental. Saonrepa 2004 farmers practical training manual on watershed development. Improving nutrition in ethiopia through plant breeding and soil management focusing on major achievementsoutcomes and lessons learned from the experience. Vetiver system for soil erosion control in ethiopia. Farmers attitude towards soil conservation on cultivated lands. In all areas which require physical soil and water conservation works will be fully implemented through proactive and organized community participation amhara rural development. Soil conservation is a further land improvement expected to. One reason is that degradation indicators such as soil quality index sqi are neither well documented nor used to evaluate current land use and soil management systems lusms. Start the discussion today with the notion of sustainability. In ethiopia land is a source of income and means of production on which the livelihood of 85 percent of the population depends. Six profiles under natural vegetation are described for classification according to the usda soil taxonomy and world reference base for soil resources.
Development and improvement of highland maize in ethiopia. Deforestation, overgrazing, and cultivation of slopes not suited to agriculture together with the farming practice that do not include. An ethiopian highland reclamation study fao 1984 put the degraded area on the highlands at 27. Soil and water resources and degradation factors affecting their. Due to this the development and welfare of the population is.
The guidelines for development agents on soil conservation in ethiopia has been in use for 30 years. Soil and water conservation effects on soil properties in the. Pdf on jun 27, 2018, abera abiyo and others published integrated soil. Evaluating the undp gef small grants programme funding in.
Biological practices are enhancing the overall soil health. The physicochemical properties of soils showed that the soils were clayey in texture, neutral to slightly alkaline ph 7. The article shows results of an international and interdisciplinary project with the title rainfall and its erosivity in ethiopia. The productive land in ethiopia generally and southern region especially has.
Soils of the main ethiopian rift valley escarpment. Guidelines and associated factors in hadiya zone, southern ethiopia. The objective of this study was to improve the quantity and quality of forages produced from intercropping of faba bean. To reduce erosion effects, soil and water conservation practices have been.
Soil improvement soil without admixtures replacement, preloading, sand drains, vertical drains, soil improvement with admixtures or inclusions stone columns, sand compaction piles, soil improvement using stabilization with. Soil quality sq degradation continues to challenge sustainable development throughout the world. Construction of soil conservation structures for improvement. Even though soil bunds reduced soil loss by 47% in experimental site established in the central highlands of ethiopia when compared to the non terraced land, the absolute soil loss from the terraced site was still high 24 t ha1 year1 adimassu et al. Land degradation is threatening biological resources and agricultural productivity, the. Population and the environment the impact of population growth on economic development is a complex issue. The collaborative initiative used a foodbased, biofortification strategy which linked agriculture and nutrition by. The objective was to assess and identify an effective sq indicator dataset from among 25 soil measurements, appropriate.
Integrated soil, water and agronomic management effects on crop. It has a negative impact on agricultural economy and the natural environment taddese 2001 clearly explained that the major causes of land degradation in ethiopia are the rapid population increase, soil erosion, deforestation, low vegetative cover and unbalanced crop and livestock production. In ethiopia, vertisols are widely and intensively utilized soil types covering 11% or 12. Of ethiopias total land area of l,22l,480 square kilometers, the government estimated in the late 1980s that l5 percent was under cultivation and 5l percent was pastureland. Ethiopia is one of the poorest countries in the world world bank, 2003.
Therefore, the present study was initiated to evaluate the soil fertility status of ten sites in central highlands vertisols of ethiopia and wheat nutrient content. Soil sample preparation soil samples were airdried, ground to pass through 2 mm. Fertilizer and soil fertility potential in ethiopia constraints and opportunities for enhancing the system. One of the major constraints to crop production faced by. Mar 16, 2012 pwdp as a foundation for sustainable agricultural development in rural ethiopia cbpwd guideline 5 yrs gtp. Farmers attitude towards soil conservation on cultivated.
It was also estimated that over 60 percent of the cultivated area was cropland. The soil mapping exercise will involve the collection, analysis, and cataloging of over 100,000 soil samples by multiple teams of soil researchers. The soils of ethiopia can be classified into five principal types. A soil degradation index is derived from an ordered qualitative classification on the degree of soil degradation and the area extension. Effects of land use changes on soil quality and native flora. Box 395, nakemte, ethiopia 2haramaya university, school of natural resources management and environmental. In fact, agriculture in ethiopia is not only an economic activity but also a way of life for. Land use impact on soil physical quality and soil structure. Land capability classification and suitability assessment for selected crops in gateno watershed, ethiopia article pdf available in cogent food and agriculture 41 october 2018 with 1,034 reads. Hospital based cross sectional study yohannes t1, kassa g2, laelago t3 and guracha e4 1college of medicine and health sciences, hawassa university, ethiopia 2department of health information technology, hossana college of health science, ethiopia. Cfscdd and fao who have critically discussed and contributed to the improvement of the document. Status of selected physicochemical properties of soils under different land use systems of western oromia, ethiopia achalu chimdi1, heluf gebrekidan2, kibebew kibret2, abi tadesse2 1wollega university, p. Ethiopian institute of agricultural research rhizobiabased. Understanding the root causes, the complexities of the problems, and devising sustainable.
Fertilizer and soil fertility potential in ethiopia. Pdf sesbania sesban, a fodder species potential to. Optimizing fertilizer use within an integrated soil. The paper estimates the effect of soil degradation on crop yields for dominant cereals in ethiopia at a nationwide level and analyses its relation with population density and fertiliser use. Private consultant to the international food policy research institute. Agriculture is important for human welfare and economic growth in. Jimma university ju is a public higher educational institution established in december 1999 by the amalgamation of.
The case of watershed in gambela region, ethiopia gatbel chot1, awdenegest moges2 and amanuel shewa3 1department of natural resources management, college of agricultural sciences, arba minch university, ethiopia. Pwdp as a foundation for sustainable agricultural development in rural ethiopia cbpwd guideline 5 yrs gtp. Dubale said that soils in ethiopia are inherently fertile, but has been. Lgp is mapped based on isolines for the longest growing period. Farmers knowledge of soil fertility and local management strategies in tigray, ethiopia1 introduction1 the importance of local knowledge soil fertility is declining in many parts of subsaharan africa ssa stoorvogel et al. Globally, about 24 billion tonnes of fertile soil is lost annually through water erosion fao, 2011. Then, with two depths, a total of 36 composited soil samples were used for soil physical properties analysis and other soil fertility status. Thesis paper on farmers perception on the role of vg for swc. Land degradation is a major challenge limiting crop production in ethiopia. Promoting the growth of other beneficial soil microorganisms if the roots, stems and leaves of the legumes are left in the ground.
By capturing more of the rainfall in the soil, water will be made available to crops during the critical dry periods and soil erosion reduced. Although indigenous swc techniques date back to 400 bc, institutionalized swc activity in ethiopia became significant only after the 1970s. Assessment on farmers practices in soil erosion control and. A slide show put together by alemu mekonnen in 2000 gives quite a good idea of the soil erosion and soil loss that ethiopian farmers are faced with, and how the vetiver system can help mitigate the problems. The relationship between ece and soil texture showed that as silt content increases salinity directly increases also. Title page abstract introduction conclusions references tables figures j i j i back close full screen esc printerfriendly version interactive discussion abstract soil erosion is the main driver of land degradation in ethiopia, and in the whole region of east africa. A case study in the denku microwatershed oromia region by kassu kebede beyene submitted in accordance with the requirement for the degree of masters in human ecology at the university of south africa supervisor.
Soil quality assessment is valuable for evaluating agroecosystem sustainability, soil degradation, and identifying sustainable land management practices. Land use impact on soil physical quality and soil structure in three highland watersheds of ethiopia. This challenge has substantial impacts on the economic and social wellbeing of local resource users, giving rise to a growing prevalence of poverty and food insecurity. Enhancing the contribution of maize to food security in ethiopia. These soils are formed from volcanic material and, with proper management, have medium to high potential for rainfed agriculture. Since 2000 vs applications have extended to many other parts of the country. Particularly in southern nation, nationalities and people regional state snnprs situated on high and stepfaulted western sides of the ethiopian rift system. The effect of soil degradation on agricultural productivity. Maintaining or improving soil nitrogen levels through fixation. Pdf effects of area exclosure on soil properties and farmers.