Soil Fertility Management in the Annual-Perennial Cropping System of Arsamma Watershed, Southwestern Ethiopian Highlands
| dc.contributor.advisor | Abegaz, Assefa (PhD) | |
| dc.contributor.author | Guteta, Dereje | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2018-07-02T07:01:16Z | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2023-11-19T12:04:37Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2018-07-02T07:01:16Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2023-11-19T12:04:37Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2016-05 | |
| dc.description.abstract | The specific objectives of this study were to assess dynamics of selected physico-chemical soil properties under different land use types, examine the nexus between smallholder farmers’ resource endowment and soil fertility management, identify determinants of Integrated Soil Fertility Management (ISFM) adoption, examine factors influencing agroforestry upscaling and agroforestry-based spatial land use integration (inter-plot organic fertilizer transfer and inter-plot income flow) and assess farmers’ perception of soil fertility change and their preferences for soil fertility management techniques in Arsamma Watershed, Southwestern Ethiopian Highlands. Forty-two composite soil samples and 42 core samples were collected from forestland, multistory canopy coffee farm, coffee monoculture and annual cropland. The samples from the annual cropland were sub-stratified based on farmers’ resource endowment. The socioeconomic data were collected from 136 randomly selected households. Two way ANOVA and Tukey’s post hoc tests were used to assess soil properties under different land use types. One way ANOVA and multiple regression models were employed to examine the nexus between smallholder farmers’ resource endowment and soil fertility management. Factors driving adoption of ISFM were characterized by a binary logistic regression model. Contingency tables, chi-square, phi and Cramer’s V were used to examine factors influencing agroforestry upscaling, inter-plot organic fertilizer transfer and inter-plot income flow. Farmers’ perception of soil fertility change and their preferences for soil fertility management techniques were assessed by descriptive statistics. Decreasing tendencies of soil organic matter, total nitrogen and the exchangeable base content were observed, sequentially, in forestland, multistory canopy coffee farm, coffee monoculture and annual cropland. Next to forest soils, soils of the multistory canopy coffee farm contained high organic matter, total nitrogen and exchangeable bases content. The soils were found to be strongly acidic (pH < 5.5) regardless of land use types. Decreasing tendencies of soil nutrient content and increasing patterns of soil acidity and soil compaction were observed, sequentially, in farmlands owned by the rich, medium and poor households. Farmland size and number of livestock explained about 61% of the variability in organic matter content of the soil. About 56% of total variation in crop yield area was explained by farmland size and livestock number, and 5.2 quintals of yield gap by area was observed between rich and poor households. Use of ISFM, agroforestry and agroforestry-based spatial land use integration was influenced by complex sets of factors. Farmland size, farmer training, participation in agricultural extension, duration of chemical fertilizer application and farmers’ perception toward continuous use of mono-chemical fertilizer were the statistically significant predictors of ISFM adoption. Scaling up of agroforestry and agroforestry-based spatial land use integration were mainly influenced by access to seedling, farmers’ production orientation, farmland size and farmers’ wealth status. The rate of soil fertility decline and the rate of the occurrence of the contributory factors were found land use specific. Increasing fertilizer requirement of croplands and decreasing yield per unit of land were the main indicators of soil fertility decline in annual and perennial cropland, respectively. Farmers’ priorities for soil fertility management techniques were land use specific. ISFM and agroforestry were their top preferences, respectively, for annual and perennial cropland. Promotion of ISFM, scaling up of the traditional coffee farm to coffee-based improved agroforestry, working towards certification of shade grown and/or organic coffee that may help the farmers to obtain premium prices from international coffee market and/ or carbon trade, application of organic fertilizers, promotion of rural electrification and energy saving stoves can alleviate the problem of soil fertility decline resulting from land use change and agroecosystem transformation. The poor farmers need to be emphatically focused on soil fertility management planning, and hence provision of credit services without tightened precondition, subsidizing chemical fertilizers, and promotion of off-farm livelihood strategies are the way out. Action-based farmer training and agricultural extension services can enhance adoption of ISFM. Agroforestry and agroforestry based symbiotic and mutually synergistic spatial land use integration can be scaled up through the promotion of agroforestry-centered diversified small-scale agricultural commercialization, tree-crop-livestock integration, and multi-purpose tree species supply. Farmers’ knowledge of below-ground processes of soil degradation need to be cultivated; and ISFM for annual cropland and agroforestry for the perennial cropland need to be a top priority of soil fertility management planning in Arsamma watershed | en_US |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://etd.aau.edu.et/handle/12345678/5198 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | en_US |
| dc.publisher | Addis Ababa University | en_US |
| dc.subject | Geography and Environmental Studies | en_US |
| dc.title | Soil Fertility Management in the Annual-Perennial Cropping System of Arsamma Watershed, Southwestern Ethiopian Highlands | en_US |
| dc.type | Thesis | en_US |