ASSESSMENT OF FARMERS’ ADOPTION OF LAND REHABILITATION PRACTICEs: THE CASE OF MANASIBU DISTRICT, WEST WOLLEGA ZONE, OROMIYA REGIONAL STATE, ETHIOPIA

Abstract

In Ethiopia, land degradation has become a serious problem affecting all spheres of social, economic and political life of the population. It is one of the major challenges to agricultural development and food security in the country. In order to combat the problem of land degradation, a lot of efforts have been made since 1970s. This study was undertaken in Manasibu district of West Wollega Zone of Oromia Regional State with the objective of assessing land rehabilitation practices (LMPs), identifying factors affecting practicing of Land Rehabilitation activities in the area. In order to achieve the objective of the study, both primary and secondary data were generated from 120 randomly selected households from four Rural Kebeles of the district based on probability proportional to size. Purposive and random sampling methods were used to select sample rural kebeles and respondents respectively. Both quantitative and qualitative collected and the qualitative data were discussed to substantiate the study. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data. Moreover, perception index was employed to examine smallholder farmers’ perception with regards to land rehabilitation practices. The study therefore, revealed the important factors that influence the Land rehabilitation practices in the study area and suggested possible solutions that may help to ameliorate the situation. Thus study has identified area closure and combined with physical soil and water conservation as the major activities strategies of land Rehabilitation, based on the respondents’ identification criteria. The result of the study also depicted that from the 120 sample households, 52 sample households were participating on the major different strategies to rehabilitate the degraded land while the remaining 68 of sample households were not participation on the major rehabilitation practices strategies option available during the survey period due to different predicaments. The descriptive analysis output showed that, farmers’ decision on choice of land Rehabilitation strategy is influenced by: farm size; slope of the plot; livestock holding and Non/off-farm income. Similarly, the result of the study showed farmers’ participation on LRP is influenced by: education level of the household heads; farming experience; slope of plot; livestock holding; off-farm income and extension contact on conservation strategies of land management. Farmers’ decision choice of soil bunds conservation strategy is influenced by farm sizes; farmer’s perception on soil erosion; livestock holding and off-farm income of households. Future land rehabilitation policies should focus on targeting farmers with large livestock holding, creation of awareness towards soil erosion problem, increasing the coverage of extension services on strategies of land management, focusing on activities which targeted both the complementarities of off-farm activities and conservation strategy of land management to encourage land management activities. The study indicated that, involvement in off-farm activities, increase in size of human population, lack of credit to embark upon land rehabilitation practices, low assistance gained from neighbor-hoods, less access to extension service are the major challenges encountering the implementation of land rehabilitation practices in effective way. Awareness creation and continuous training, creating opportunities for alternative means of livelihood and promoting NGOs effort to involve in land rehabilitation practices help solve the problem encountering land rehabilitation practices in the study area