SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION PRACTICES AMONG SMALLHOLDING FARMERS IN CHERCHER HIGHLANDS: THE CASE OF TULO WOREDA, WEST HARARGHE ZONE, OROMIA REGIONAL STATE, ETHIOPIA

Abstract

Land degradation is one of the major challenges in agricultural production in many parts of the world, especially in developing nations, including Ethiopia. Soil and water conservation in Ethiopia was not only closely related to the improvement and conservation of ecological environment, but also to the sustainable development of its agricultural sectors and its economy at large. The major objective of the study is to assess Soil and Water Conservation Practices in Chercher Highlands. In this study, both primary and secondary data collection techniques were used. These includes, primary data sources; household questionnaire, key informant interview and field observation that were used to generate both qualitative and quantitative data. The sampling technique employed in this study were purposive sampling to select the four kebeles and simple random to select representative household’s heads. Samples of 247 heads of households were used to gain insight into soil erosion perceived by farmers and conservation practices employed in the study area. Quantitative data analysis methods employed in this study were percentage, frequency and chi-square using SPSS computer software program. both descriptive and inferential statistics were used to address the stated objectives. Discussion held with farmers, field observation, and interview on SWC practices were analyzed qualitatively. Results of these statistics showed that there was statistically significant difference between SWC adopters and non-adopter households in terms of sex, education status, family size, farm size, level of contact with DA, slope of the plot, land holding size, size of livestock, participation in off-farm activities, availability of labor, farm experience, farm land distance and farmers' perception on soil erosion. These were the major factors that influence the practices of soil and water conservation structure. Soil/stone bund, inorganic fertilizer, terraces, water way, cut off drain, compost are the soil and water conservation structure practiced by farmers to improve the fertility of soil. The result of the study indicates to decrease the challenges of SWC in the study area, the DAs, and experts of the natural resource of the area advice farmers as it is not important to destroy the terrace bench, soil bunds etc. They advise, as it would be better to redevelop the existing terraces and supporting them with other soil fertility and SWC methods and train the farmers to change the low awareness they have on SWC practices.