Agronomic management practices
Mixed cropping and crop
rotation
Farmers were asked why they preferred mixed farming and crop rotation.
About 93.2% and 83.7% of the farmers responded that they preferred
mixed farming and crop rotation respectively on their farm. This is due
to small landholding and large family size. Besides, mixed cropping is
important for soil fertility. Finally, for those who have a small size
of land, mixed cropping is important to get different types of crops at
a time.
Contour Farming
Contour farming is a practice of cultivating the land along the contour
line to reduce the runoff on a steep slope area. The study showed that
this type of conservation practices were most often used by the farmers.
From the sample household heads, 79.49% applied the contour farming
with a mix of the other conservation measures including cut off drain,
fallowing, waterways, and application of manure. While the farmer plows
the land along the contour for the preparation of an appropriate seedbed
for production, it serves the purpose of conserving the soil from
erosion.
Fallowing
Most of the land under this treatment is highly degraded to the extent
of almost reaching a point of no return or recover within a short time.
It is a traditional practice of leaving the land out of production for
3-5 years to restore soil fertility and minimize soil loss. Generally,
farmers leave the land or fallowing after all the soils removed from the
land and the land is unable to produce under normal conditions, and only
stones are found exposed on the land. Only 16.24% of the respondents
apply fallow as a SWC measure. The farmers learned that through time
traditional fallow periods have become very short and rare in the areas
as a result of the high population pressure and associated low
agricultural productivity.
Application of manure
Farmers didn’t apply manure on the soil, which was rather simply thrown
near the homestead. During the survey, however, it was found out that
since the last 4-5years the farmers used the manure to improve the
fertility of soil. The main reason farmers shifted to this practice was
attributed to the skyrocketing price of inorganic fertilizers which are
unaffordable by the farmer. But currently, only 12.82% of the
respondents practice this measure, as there is a very critical shortage
of fuelwood and not much livestock in the area.
The practical observations, discussions, and interviews indicated that
other management practices are going in the study area. Some of the
farmers prepared compost from animal manures, plant leaves as well as
crop residues to maintain soil fertility. But it needs knowledge and
training to prepare effectively according to the respondents. Therefore
it requires trainers who are ready and have a good knowledge regarding
the instructions of better compost preparation. Some of the farmers used
crop residues maintaining soil fertility through the shifting of animal
feeding beds.
Factors that limit the
implementation of land management practices
Different factors limit farmers to implement different land management
practices in the study area (Table 4). The major factors affecting them
were lack of training (78.1%), inefficient support from developmental
agents (70.0%), limited support from district agricultural office
(53.6%), and lack of good relationship between farmers which
constitutes 43.1% respectively. According to the respondents, those
farmers who lack trust in conservation measures poorly participate in
the training, planning, and design of SWC program. Besides, due to
inefficient support from developmental agents and limitations from the
district agricultural office, farmers were less committed to practice
SWC. According to Shiferaw and Holden (1998), the lack of attention on
natural resources leads to drought and reduced household income, in
turn, affect farmers that entirely engaged in agricultural activities in
the Ethiopian highlands.
Institutional factors that
influence SWC practice