Land Degradation Causes, Consequences and Sustainability of the Restoration Efforts: The Case of Soro Wereda, Hadiya Zone, Southern Ethiopia

Abstract

Land degradation is a global issue and it is more severe in developing countries like Ethiopia. To address the problems of land degradation in Ethiopia, many efforts have been made since 1970s. From then onwards many attempts have been made and integrated watershed management in one among these. The study was undertaken in Soro Wereda, Hadiya Zone, and SNNPR with the objective of examining land degradation causes, consequences and sustainability of the restoration efforts. In order to achieve the stated objectives, both primary and secondary data were generated by employing qualitative and quantitative methods. Systematic sampling technique was used to select 97 representative households from three kebeles. The quantitative data was analyzed by using frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation. The qualitative data was analyzed through narration. The findings of the study showed that gully formation, stoniness of land, absence of grasses and vegetation cover, decline in crop productivity and change in soil color are the main symptoms of land degradation. The major extent of land degradation as perceived by the local people was severe. Only very few of the households opted that highly severe regarding the extent of land degradation. The major causes of land degradation in the study were soil erosion, deforestation and over cultivation. In addition, topography, overgrazing, lack of conservation methods and cultivation of marginal land were the other important causes with the certain degree of variation. The core impacts of land degradation were the declining of yield year after year, food insecurity| poverty and drought and famine. The remaining increases of inputs, malnutrition, desertification and displacement of people ranked two up to five followed by the above mentioned impacts. It is very difficult to restore the degraded land without the full participation of relevant stakeholders. The main stakeholders that participate in the restoration process include government, NGOs, farmers and DAs and each of these stakeholders have its own roles. Adopting of the participatory approach, promoting the awareness of rural communities as well as other stakeholders, management of restored land, and combining of the restoration efforts with local knowledge are core issues to the sustainability of the restoration process. In order to run the restoration efforts in sustainable way strengthening of community participation, capacity building of stakeholders, providing of incentives for those achieve the restoration process and scale up of the best practices are needed.