Determinants of farmers' multiple-choice and sustainable use of indigenous land management practices in the Southern Rift Valley of Ethiopia

Abstract

Over a century, farmers in the Iyanda watershed, have globally recognized and successful Indigenous land management practices (ILMP). However, due to various factors, the sustainable application of these practices has been declined over the last four decades. Despite the description of the problem, the basic factors are not yet utterly analyzed. This study, therefore, aimed to examine the determinants of farmers' multiple-choice, and sustainable use of ILMP, and its impact on crop production in the Iyanda watershed, Southern Rift Valley of Ethiopia. The surveyed data were collected from 411 farmers who were selected via multistage sampling technique. The Multivariate probit, Binary logit and Propensity Score Matching were applied for data analysis. The analysis reveals that farmers' decision to multiple-choice and sustainable use of ILMP is significantly determined by different socio-economic, institutional and farmland-related factors. Similarly, access to information, materials, and government supports had a significant impact on the simultaneous-sustainable use of the management practices. Moreover, the analysis shows that the crop production of sustained users was higher than non-sustained users of ILMP. Finally, it can be concluded that despite its long-lasting and potential advantages, the uses of ILMP had been declined. Thus, the land use managers and decision-makers should give adequate emphasis to ILMP and take into consideration the farmers' socio-economic conditions and plots' characteristics while they [re]design land management and agricultural development programs to sustain ILMP with scaling up its advantages in the study area.