Determinants of soil and water conservation adoption and farmers’ perceptions in the Shafe catchment, Southern Ethiopian Rift Valley

Abstract

Soil degradation remains to be a substantial issue for subsistence agriculture in Ethiopia, particularly in higher and sloped areas where land burden and poor farming methods intensify soil destruction and nutrient loss. Though Soil and water conservation approaches were developed to tackle this issue, their success eventually trusts on farmers' views and readiness to implement them. Yet, there is a lack of empirical evidence connecting farmers' perceptions with adoption choices in different agro ecological and socioeconomic settings in South Ethiopian Rift Valley. This study is aimed at examining the perceptions of small-scale farmers towards soil degradation and identifying the most important socio-demographic, institutional, psychological, and physical determinants behind the adoption of soil and water conservation (SWC) technologies in the Shafe catchment area. A mixed method approach was employed where the data collection involved household survey from 185 households selected randomly in three kebeles combined with focus group discussion and key informant interviews. Farmers' attitudes and adoption behaviors were examined using descriptive statistics while multiple logistic regression analysis revealed the determinants causing disturbance of adoption of selected SWC technologies. It is found that agro-ecology plays a critical role in the adoption process, with households living in lowlands or kolla areas being more willing to adopt certain SWC practices such as avoidance of up and down ploughing and fallowing. Institutional factors, particularly the availability of training opportunities, played a positive role in adoption of SWC technologies. Other household characteristics, such as larger household sizes, participation in other economic activities apart from farming, for example, weaving, and larger sizes of homesteads were found to be significant drivers of the uptake of labor intensive SWC measures. The study indicates that efforts aimed at increasing the perception levels of farmers through training and extension are fundamental for increasing SWC uptake. There is an urgent need by regional, district agricultural offices, extension organizations, local authorities and development partners to increase and intensify their extension programs for households practicing agriculture on steep slopes and distant lands with high risk of land degradation. The priority is to improve the access of farmers to extension, technical training and supervision. It is urgent for intervention measures to be taken to enhance SWC adoption in Shafe catchment and similar agro ecological zones. Keywords: Adoption; Perception; Shafe catchment; Soil and water conservation; South Ethiopian rift valley