IMPACT OF SUSTAINABLE LAND MANAGEMENT INTERVENTIONS ON RURAL HOUSEHOLDS’ WELFARE: THE CASE OF EAST HARARGHE AND HADIYA ZONES OF OROMIA AND CENTRAL ETHIOPIA REGIONAL STATES, ETHIOPIA

Abstract

Land degradation neutrality in Ethiopia is one of the key urgencies for sustainable development. The Government of Ethiopia and donor agencies have intervened to scale holistic, integrated, and new patterns called Sustainable Land Management (SLM) practices through targeted and planned interventions to address this problem. Notwithstanding some of identified economic and ecological benefits associated with the adoption of some SLM practices, the adoption rate remains below expectations. This study was initiated to explore farmers’ perceptions of bench terracing, identify the determinants of adoption, and evaluate the impact of SLMPs on crop yield and net farm income in eastern and central Ethiopia. Data were gathered from 384 randomly selected households via multi-stage sampling procedures. Primary data were collected through household surveys, focus group discussions, and key informant interviews, while secondary data were taken from relevant sources. Qualitative data were analyzed by content analysis technique, and quantitative data were analyzed using the multivariate probit (MVP), binary logit, and propensity score matching (PSM) models. Content analysis showed that bench terracing (BT) restored damaged land and enhanced crop yield where it was aptly implemented and maintained. The study found that 57.3% of farmers professed that BT is more cost-effective; 60.7% replied that it is compatible with the sociocultural milieu; and 59.8% perceived its results are observable to others. But when a farmer lacks sufficient social, human/financial capital holdings, it often fails. The results of the MVP model revealed that simultaneous adoption of SLMPs was positively and significantly influenced by education level, livestock, social group membership, extension contacts, access to SLM information, skill training, credit, land tenure, and land slope, while household head age, farm distance, and number of active family members because of youth migration abroad had negative effects. The major SLMPs used on farmlands were chemical fertilizers, soil bunds, BT, intercropping, and manure. Some of which complemented, and others substituted for one another. The logit model estimate showed that age of household head, education level, livestock, social group membership, extension contacts, access to SLM information, credit, land slope, farm distance, perception of land degradation, and attitude toward SLM effectiveness significantly affected adoption probability. PSM disclosed that the mean yield of sorghum and wheat in SLM-adopted households was 318.42 kilograms per hectare, and the mean net farm income was 6604.99 Birr per year ($121.38), higher than that of non-adopters. This study concluded that the adoption of SLMPs is a multifaceted process influenced by their attributes and livelihood assets; in this essence, households adopted a bundle of SLMPs on a single farm. Thus, SLM adoption through SLM interventions improved rural households’ welfare. Hence, it is recommended that, to enhance SLMPs adoption and better understand the intended outcomes, research institutions and other rural development actors—with farmers should band to re-invent BT attributes. Rural development policies for more interventionsshould echo the interdependences of SLMPs before sharing them. To cut illegal migration, international organizations for migration (IOM) and SLM project should match SLMPs with rural youth job opportunity creation initiatives. When promoting cropland SLMPs, livestock production and management should be a key policy issue. Moreover, policy-makers, planners, and SLM projects targeting land degradation neutrality and agricultural productivity should redesign rural development policies and strategies for SLM per natural resource management-based production and income-generating livelihood activities.