Soil Management Practices and Challenges in Egere Sebra Mariam Kebele, Enebse Sar Midirworeda of East Gojjam Zone, Ethiopia
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Date
2014-06
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Soil degradation is one of the serious factors that prone people to food insecurity by decreasing agricultural productivity, especially for those whose livelihood is dependent on agriculture. This study has attempted to identify major challenges farmers faced while managing their soils. The main objectives of the study were assessing the perception of farmers towards their soil,
identifying the most common indigenous and modern soil management practices and detect major challenges farmers faced in relation to soil management. The necessary data was collected from sample households, concerned officials and DAs through questionnaires, interviews and focus group discussions. From the collected it was revealed that soil degradation was a menace to the farmers, natural vegetation was destroyed and agricultural production decreased from time to time. Famers were well aware about soil degradation and its severity and
knew that soil degradation was a threat to their agricultural activities. To cope up with these situations, farmers had used different soil management techniques. To protect soil from erosion, terraces had been built. To maintain soil fertility they had used compost and crop rotation. The major challenges concerning soil management methods were resistance of farmers towards using chemical fertilizers, lack of awareness about perennials, high frequency of tillage and unavailability of DAs were some of the challenges. These findings implied that though different efforts had been made to soil management, some challenges were observed that adversely affect the sustainability of soil management. Therefore, to overcome these challenges additional soil management methods have to be implemented
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Geography and Environmental Studies