Soil Bunds
Soil bunds are constructed during the dry season that does not interfere
with land preparation for cropping. It increases soil productivity by
capturing moisture and crop yields over time. About 69.2% of the
household heads in the study area practice soil bunds (Table 3).
However, the disadvantage of this structure as explained by the farmer
is that it requires a lot of maintenance in a short period due to being
filled with soil immediately after heavy rainfall and did not allow oxen
plow. It is mainly implemented on cultivated land with slopes in the
range of 8% to 25%, but also on grazing land with gentle slopes at
wider intervals (Lakew et al . 2005). Since the beginning of
introduced SWC measures in 2004, there was a continuous construction of
soil bunds, yet there is an interruption in implementation. In 2013,
2014 and 2015 the length of constructed, maintained and preserved soil
bund in the study area was 108.42km, 95.5 km and 85.5 km respectively
(Guduru district office of agriculture,
2019)
Check dams
Dominantly, the brush-woods and soils are used to construct check dams
and about 29.6 % of the farmers use it with a mix of other SWC measures
(Table 2). Diverting runoff from the cultivated field to the main and
community road is very common in the study area. Tree branches and
grassed soil are traditionally used to construct check dams, and
effectiveness is constrained by erosive of rainfall and size of the
channel.