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.