Abstract
Watershed development is an important component of rural development and natural resource management strategies in many countries. The study was conducted to investigate the current situation of Warja watershed for further improvements to promote Sustainable and productive livelihood through the integration of different watershed components in participatory approach. Household interview and biophysical resources assessment followed by watershed mapping techniques were used for the data collection. Purposive sampling methods were used to select 63 households and Warja watershed boundary was delineated and its map was developed based on the preliminary outlet identified with the help of GPS reading. Descriptive statistics and diversity indices were used for data analysis. The results of the study indicated that Agriculture was the principal occupation (98.4%) of the population of Warja watershed. The average farmland size was 1.9 hectares while 25% of the households have farmland ranging from 0.25 to 1 hectare. The minimum and maximum family size of the sample farm households was 2 and 16 respectively. The common types of off-farm income generating activities are petty trade and working as daily labor. Slope gradient of Warja watershed ranges from 0 to more than 30 and the slope gradient of 2-5 and 5-10 cover the greatest in area coverage representing 204ha and 145ha respectively. Soil laboratory analysis result showed that sandy loam was the major soil type of Warja watershed. Overall results concluded that land degradation and biodiversity loss were a serious concern and watershed management programs could be strengthened. Awareness creation and strengthening capacity of rural communities on integrating crops, livestock and natural resource management technologies for effective soil and water conservation measure should be enhanced through participatory integrated watershed management approach.
Highlights
IntroductionIn Ethiopia Watershed management programs commenced in a formal way in the 1970s
Household Characteristics of the Respondents The results of these socioeconomic characteristics of households are helpful in exploring the communities’ infrastructures and resources need for planning future intervention of watershed management and could determine the extent to which the community could adopt the future intervention that might be useful in developing a plan for commencing community development work
Warja watershed encompasses remarkable natural capital with potential to support households residing in the area
Summary
In Ethiopia Watershed management programs commenced in a formal way in the 1970s. Non-governmental organizations and local community efforts on rural development have been based on watershed development program [10]. In the early 2000s, community-based integrated watershed development was introduced to promote watershed management as a means to achieve broader integrated natural resource management and livelihood improvement objectives within prevailing agroecological and socioeconomic environments [16]. At the earlier watershed management had a narrow focus primarily for controlling erosion, floods and maintaining sustainability of useable water yield. Recently watershed management is for managing or conserving natural resources in a holistic manner, and to involve local people for betterment of their lives.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
