Factors Influencing Soil Erosion Management Practices in Ejersa Lafo District, West Showa Zone, Oromia, Regional State, Ethiopia

Amenu Leta,Terefe Megersa

doi:10.4314/jasem.v25i1.11

Abstract

Soil erosion by water is the major Agricultural problem, which results in reduction of agricultural productivity. This study focused on farmer perception of soil erosion and factors influence soil erosion management practices. A cross sectional data was used to assess information about soil erosion perception and factors influence soil erosion management practices. The Ejersa Lafo district was purposively selected from the districts of West Shoa Zones. A total of 142 sample respondents were randomly selected. Interview questionnaire, focus group discussion and survey of field observation were used as data collection tools. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and econometric model. Result from descriptive statistics show that majority of the respondents perceived soil erosion problem and its consequence on farmland. Both biological and physical soil erosion management practices in the area. Binary logit model estimation result shows that education level, landholding size, slopes of the land and land ownership type were mostsignificant to soil erosion management practices in the area. Therefore, taking these factors into account in setting appropriate soil erosion management measures may help policy makers and farmers to couple with erosion problem. The study recommended a need for the government to enforce effective policies to control and prevent soil erosion problem. Keywords: Binary logit model: Management practices: Soil Erosion

Highlights

Soil erosion by water is the major Agricultural problem, which results in reduction of agricultural productivity
Soil erosion is a main environmental and agricultural problem that affects worldwidly more than 10 million hectares per year (World Economic Forum, 2010).Likewise Mohamed (2015) recognized that soil erosion is serious environmental problems in the world and is responsible for 80% of the current degradation of agricultural.Soil degradation induced by water erosion in sub Saharan Africa (SSA) is mainly concerned because of its consequences on subsistence agriculture, from which about 85% of the population derives their livelihoods (Erkossa et al, 2015; Tully et al.,2015).It is a major threat to development in most economies of the world (Erkossaet al., 2015; Taguas et al, 2015; Keesstra et al, 2016)
Farmers’ perception of soil erosion:Survey results indicated that about38 % of farmers understood thatsoil erosion ashigh problem in farmlands while 29.6% of farmers demonstrated the intensity of soil erosion isslow in cropland

Summary

Introduction

Soil erosion by water is the major Agricultural problem, which results in reduction of agricultural productivity. Result from descriptive statistics show that majority of the respondents perceived soil erosion problem and its consequence on farmland. Both biological and physical soil erosion management practices in the area. Binary logit model estimation result shows that education level, landholding size, slopes of the land and land ownership type were most significant to soil erosion management practices in the area. Taking these factors into account in setting appropriate soil erosion management measures may help policy makers and farmers to couple with erosion problem. TesfaandMekuriaw (2014) indicated that natural resource degradation is the environmental problems which resulting for decline of agricultural productivity.According to Assogba et al,(2017) revealed that in the many agroecological areas, erosion has leach the top soil.According to Kidane and Alemu (2015) concluded that soil erosion problem is more severe in the highlands of Ethiopia.Among the Sub Saharan Africa countries, Ethiopia has a suffered by

Methods

Results

Conclusion