Land management in the north-western highlands of Ethiopia: adoption and impact

Abstract

Ethiopia is the second most populous country in Sub-Saharan Africa, with a total area of 1,104,300 km? (FAO, 2011a). The estimated population was 84,320,987 in 2012 (CSA, 2012). Subsistence smallholder agriculture has continuously dominated economic development policy in Ethiopia (Mellor, 2014). This sector contributes about 41% of the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP), 80% of its employment and 90% of its export earnings (FAO, 2011b). Despite its pivotal role, the performance of this sector has remained largely unsatisfactory (Gregory, 2013). Agricultural development in Ethiopia is hampered by many factors; a major one among these is land degradation (Dethier and Effenberger, 2012; Haileslassiea, 2005; Taddese, 2001). Among all forms of land degradation processes in Ethiopia, soil erosion by water is the most severe threat to food security, environmental sustainability and prospects for rural development in the country (Vagen et al., 2013; Taye, .^OIS; Shiferaw and Holden, 1999). The country loses about 3% of its agricultural GDP per year due to land degradation (World Bank, 2007). Land degradation is most severe in the highlands of Ethiopia (Pender and Gebremedhin, 2007; Hurni, 1988). Degradation in the highlands of Ethiopia is mainly the result of mismanagement, overpopulation, and historical dynamics of the political-ecological system and regional land policies (Lanckriot et al., 2014). A variety of traditional physical land management practices, including cut-off drains, traditional ditches and waterways, are part and parcel of the farming systems of the highlands. Although these and other traditional soil and water conservation practices arc widely practiced, they do not match the severity and intensity of the soil erosion problem (Bekele, 2003). Some traditional soil and W3ter conservation practices even aggravate gully formation rather than control erosion. Despite the expansion of the land degradation problem, investment in soil conservation was largely neglected in Ethiopia prior to 1974. A countrywide large-scale resource conservation project was launched only in reaction to the 1973/74 famine. These activities were financed with support from various international donor organisations including the World Food Programme (WFP). The interventions were mainly focused on treating arable lands with a range of soil and water conservation (SWC) measures, afforestation, and enclosure of highly degraded areas (Ludi, 2004). Between 1976 and 1988, about 800,000 1 m of soil and stone bunds constructed on cropland, 600,000 km of hillside covered by trees and 100,000 ha of land were put under area closure for natural regeneration countrywide (Hurni, 1988). However, most of the SWC works were either partially or even entirely destroyed and abandoned by farmers during a change of government in 1991 (Shiferaw and Holden, 1998; Ludi, 2004, Bewket, 2007). Since the 1990s, soil and water conservation practices have been implemented as part of agricultural extension programmes. In 2005 the Ethiopian Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MoARD), in collaboration with several international development organisations, published guidelines for the first time, for 'Community Based Participatory Watershed Development' (MoARD, 2005). Besides summarising technical details of SWC measures, the guidelines emphasised the integration of land users in the SWC design and implementation process. Since 2010, the government of Ethiopia has embarked again on a massive SWC campaign using mass mobilisation at watershed level. Concurrently, a conservation-based, agricultural development-led industrialisation development strategy is focusing on promoting conservation of natural resources and improvement of agricultural productivity (GTP, 2010). Soil fertility control practices, such as the application of inorganic and organic fertiliser, are the major land management (LM) practices employed in the highlands of Ethiopia to replenish and/or improve thefertility of the soil. Land fallowing and crop rotation practices, which were traditionally used to maintain soil fertility, have been gradually reduced due to high population pressure and limited availability of cultivable land. The use of manure to add organic materials to the soil is also hampered by the increased use of dung and crop residues as a source of energy (Amsalu, 2006). Thus, in order to restore plant nutrients to the depleted soils, one of the major activities of the extension programmes in Ethiopia has been provision of chemical fertiliser to farmers. DAP (Di-Ammonium Phosphate) and urea are the only types of mineral fertiliser currently available in Ethiopia. Fertiliser use in Ethiopia increased from 3,500 tons in the early 1970s to about 650,000 tons in 2012 (Rashid, 2013). However, fertiliser use is still quite limited. Only 30 - 40 % of smallholders use fertiliser. They apply an average of only 37 - 40 kg ha ', which is significantly below recommended rates (Spielman, et al., 2013). Since the 2000s, compost has also been an integral part of the extension packages in the highlands of Ethiopia to reverse soil fertility depletion.