Abstract:
Soil degradation caused by erosion threatens agricultural production in many regions of
Ethiopia. Though various soil and water conservation (SWC) measures have been introduced
and practiced by farmers, the extent of their adoption and sustainability is not clear. This is
also true of Chingo watershed of Anlemo woreda and it is with this understanding that a study
was proposed and conducted to assess the adoption of introduced SWC practices and their
effect on selected soil properties. A total of 175 smallholder farmers were selected randomly
to collect primary data. Tobit model analysis at household level was used to analyze physical
and socio-economic factors that affect the use of SWC measures. Soil samples were taken from
16 farm plots for comparison of plot with conservation measure and farm plot without
conservation measure and to establish relationship between adopters and non adopters. Semi
structured questionnaire was used to collect other relevant data and secondary data were
collected from various documents. Results showed that the adoption of introduced physical
soil and water conservation (PSWC) measures had more positive impact on adopters than
non adopters. On plots with level soil bund and stone bund, there was an average increase in
crop yield in the lower part of the plot, as compared to the upper parts and crop yields
increased by 23.3% compared to the situation of land without bunds. Adoption of SWC
practice increased farmers’ bread wheat and faba beans yield by an average of 11.15% and
10.65% respectively. Thus, SWC has resulted in substantial improvement in farm yields. It is,
therefore, recommended to educate farmers regularly, consider farmers’ opinions to
rehabilitate degraded agricultural lands through the implementation of PSWC measures in
order to increase their productivity to a significant level.
