An Analysis of the Changes in Crop Production Practice of Peasant Farmers Under Increasing Population the Case of Hitosa 'Wereda' in Arsi Zone
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Date
1999-04
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
The general objective of the study is to evaluate the condition of crop production
practices of peasant farmers under the situation of rapid growth of population and limited
land resources. Therefore it assesses the agricultural resources, patterns of rural land uses and
cropping, the uses of modern crop production technologies and the farming systems of the
peasants and the changes observed. Emphasis is, however, given to the impact of population
growth on the land use, farming system, need to the use of modern inputs and agricultural
productivity in the study area.
The primary data needed in the study were acquired from field survey using
questionnaire and interviews. The secondary data were obtained from base maps, and from
the documents of government and non-government offices. To analyse the data statistical
measures such as the mean, median, percentile, standard deviation, coefficient of variation, F
and t-tests and test for ANOV A, the indices of crop concentration Crop combination and
crop specialization, simple and multiple correlationlr~ression, models are used.
The findings revealed that change in land use types in the last twenty years considered
in response to the population growth. The cultivated lands showed an expansion rate of
l.S%/yr at the expense of the grazing and other land uses. Average size ofland holding was
generally found to be small and decreasing (27,7% of the sample households reported having
less than one hectare). The family labour is the basis of all farm activities. The animal labour
used are mainly the oxen for cultivation & threshing and the donkeys for transport purposes.
However, a few ofthe peasants use tractors and combiners to supplement the animal labour.
Crop rotation method and the chemical fertilizers are widely used to replenish soil fertility.
Because most of the peasant farmers are aware of the benefits they get from the use of
modern farm inputs, their need to the use of tractors, combiners, chemical fertilizers, selected
seeds, pesticides and weed killer chemicals have grown significantly in the area. The
cropping pattern was found to be dominated by the area of the cereal crops and showed an
increasing dominance. In the change of the cropping pattern, the areal share of wheat
increased while of the other crops decreased except of the sorghum which remained
unchanged for the last two decades. The mean production amount of a household
decreased by about 7.6% whereas the mean production amount that a HH obtained from one
hectare offarm increased by about 29.7% as observed from 1977178 to 1997/98.Generally as it is disclosed by the study, the land holding sizes and land use patterns,
the uses of human and animal labour, the uses of modern farm inputs, the patterns of
cropping, and land and labour productivities showed changes within the study area.
The simple correlation results for the changes in the areas of all land use types and of
cultivated lands are identified to have strong and positive relations to the changes in the
number of rural population. In contrast, the change in the area of grazing lands is identified to
have negative relation to population growth.
The analyses of variance computed for the significances of expected variations in the
use of modern farm machinery and inputs within the study area confirmed that the variations
in the use of chemical fertilizers and tractors to be statistically significant while of the
selected seeds and combiners are not.
The results of the simple correlation analyses identified positive and strong
interdependence between land productivity and the four selected variables (the use of
chemical fertilizers, selected seeds, tractors and combiners). The regression analysis further
revealed that these four variables emerged as significant predictors. On the other hand, the
results of simple correlation analyses of labour productivity and use of these modern inputs
emerged as strong but negatively associated. It is worth mentioning that the four independent
variables considered have contributed 99.7% and 91.5% to the respective total variances of
land and labour productivities which leave 0.3% and 4.5% ofthe variances to be explained by
other variables which have not been considered in the study. Hence, further research to
identifY the more significant variables amongst those which have not been considered is
advisable.
On the basis of the overall evaluation some recommendations have been presented.
The major ones are the need to restructure the farming system in general and to optimally
plan the land use by making balance to the various uses according to the priority of the
demand in particular; to assist the farmers improve the use of traditional and archaic farm
tools; to initiate and support the peasants for the use of modern farm inputs and production
technology; to study the feasible ways that help to improve the farmers' access to the use of
the modern farm inputs; to introduce the animal feed that can be produced by the peasants; to
improve infrastructural facilities; to attract capital investment into the area; to develop agroindustry,
irrigation schemes; to integrate agriculture with other income generating
occupational activities; and to strictly observe the national population policy (the family
planning aspect in particular) and educate the people so as to realize balance between
population and resources of the area.
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Keywords
Analysis of the Changes, Crop Production Practice