Farmers’ Perception of the Impacts of Population Pressure on the Environment and their Responses: The Case of Dandi Woreda, West Shoa Zone (Oromia Region)
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Date
2010-10
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Ethiopia is one of the Sub-Saharan African Countries known for their fast population growth and accelerated environmental degradation causing imbalance between population growth and the existing natural resources .In view of this situation the main objective of this study is to examine the level of public perception and responses to the impacts of population pressure on the environment with the case of Dendi Woreda of West Shoe Zone of Oromia Region. The data used in this study was collected from 400 sample household heads of the three Kebeles of Dandi Woreda. The methods of data analysis used in the study were bi-variate and multivariate. The bi-variate analysis is used to see the relationship between demographic and socio-economic variables on the level of public perception and their responses to mitigate agricultural land degradation and deforestation. A multi-variate analysis (logistic regression) was used to assess the net effect of each predictor so as to best fit the model. Among eight demographic and socio-economic factors age and family size shows statistically significant association with dependent variable (perception). On the other hand , literacy status, contact with DAs, participation in social organization and access to mass media show statistically significant association with perception both on agricultural land use and forest resources. Variables which show significant association with responses to the impacts of population pressure on agricultural land use are age, family size; literacy status and contact with DAs. The findings of the study also show that 75.50 percent and 70.25 percent of the sample of the population perceive population pressure as a cause for agricultural land degradation and forest resource depletion, respectively. On the basis of the study findings, it is recommended that advocacy work towards promoting limited family size and environmental conservation should be strengthened in the study area. On the other hand, raising farmers’ awareness and promoting understanding of the essential linkage between population and environment should be encouraged
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Social Work