Factors affecting farmers\u2019 participation in watershed management programs in the Northeastern highlands of Ethiopia: a case study in the Teleyayen sub-watershed

Abstract

IntroductionThis study investigated factors affecting farmers’ participation in watershed management programs in the Northeastern highlands of Ethiopia by taking the Teleyayen sub-watershed as a case study. Data were collected from 215 farm households which were selected from the four villages using a multistage sampling procedure, involving a combination of purposive and random sampling. Data were gathered using a structured survey questionnaire, focus group discussion, and key informant interviews. Descriptive analysis, Pearson correlation analysis, and regression analysis were employed to analyze the data.ResultsFindings of this study showed that farmer’s perception has a strong positive correlation (r = 0.612, P = 0.000) with the farmer’s decision to participate in the watershed management programs followed by government support (r = 0.163, P = 0.017), while the slope of the farmland and the gender of the household head have shown significant and negative associations. The binary logistic regression analysis also revealed that six independent variables were significant in explaining the factors affecting the farmers’ decision to participate in watershed management programs. These variables were land redistribution, gender, agricultural labor force, extension service, farm size, and slope. Of these, land redistribution, gender, agricultural labor force, extension service, and slope of the farmland indicated a negative influence, while farm size of a household exerted a positive impact. The study also examined the role of discrete variables in explaining variations of variables in affecting the farmers’ decision to participate in the programs. Thus, two variables found to be significant. These variables are the gender of the household head and land tenure security. Accordingly, the chi-square result of the variable (X2 = 9.052) of gender was found to be statistically significant at the 95% level of significance. Similarly, the chi-square result (X2 = 8.792) of land tenure security was found to be statistically significant at the 95% level of significance.ConclusionsThe result of the study suggests to work on raising the awareness of farmers’ about the long-term benefits of the watershed programs and to design a strategy to diversify their livelihoods.