Abstract:
Rapid population growth and environmental degradation coupled with mismanagement of
land resources in the northern parts of the country led to the adoption of resettlement as a
policy option to address the problem by resettling people in the southern parts of the country.
Gimbo woreda was one of the destinations that received large population number from
northern parts especially from Wollo .However, it was not only unplanned but also little
attention was given to ecological, social and cultural attitudes of both natives and resettlers.
The objective of this study is to assess the impact of resettlement and land management
practices on soil quality and soil erosion status in cultivated fields of both the resettler and
native. Preliminary study with semi detailed survey followed by multistage-sampling
technique was used to select study sites for soil sampling, determination of erosion rates by
USLE adapted to Ethiopia; and household survey with semi-structured questionnaires. Soil
samples were collected from cultivated fields and the adjacent natural forest. The results
indicate that the soil quality status of cultivated fields of resettlers is significantly different at
0.05 significance interval from that of natives. The mean result of soil quality indicators for
the cultivated fields’ of resettlers (pH, OM, TN, AvP, AvK and CEC) showed 15% to 56%
decline as compared to that of forest soils. But it was found that 2% to 31% of the decline for
the cultivated fields of native. The mean annual soil loss from the cultivated fields of
resettlers’ was higher than cultivated field of natives in average of 1t/ha/yrs across slope
zones. There is also a difference in land management practices, i.e. about 93% of resettler
farmers used commercial fertilizer for maintaining soil fertility but only 4.4% native used it.
57.8% of surveyed native farmers practiced short fallow period as a soil management
practice and none of resettler practiced it. Both resettlers and natives are well aware of
degradation and its causes. The study revealed that continuous cultivation of resettlers’ land
without appropriate land management practices will further deteriorate soil quality.
Key words: Resettlement, Soil quality, Soil quality indicators, USLE, RUSLE