Assessment of the Practices and Aspects of Farmland Management in Gozamen Woreda, East Gojjam Zone, Ethiopia
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Date
2011-06
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Addis Abeba University
Abstract
Farmland is so matchless precious natural resource which is vital for gainful agricultural
production that calls for improved and efficient management practices. Thus, in order to utilize it
in a sustainable manner, numerous management practices can be involved at a given farmland.
The intention can be to control soil erosion, insects and weeds and /or to maintain its fertility
which is vital to maximize productivity. There are various time-honored indigenous farmland
management practices in Gozamen Woreda (District) which serve as a base to carry out
improved land management systems. There are some newly introduced methods in practice as
well. Nevertheless, the Woreda is still characterized by poor farmland management practices.
Accordingly, this research was aimed to assess the practical indigenous and modern farmland
management practices and aspects, to examine positive and negative impacts of each of the land
management practices in terms of agricultural productivity and environmental protection and to
assess the major determining factors of adoption and implementation of improved farmland
management practices in the study area with special reference to two sample Kebeles (Chertekel
and May Angetam). Through employing questionnaires, key informant interviews, field
observation and case studies, it was found that although different introduced farmland
management methods are put in practice in Gozamen, traditional management practices take the
dominant share with respect to their intensive implementation, and some of environmentally
adapted and less costly indigenous management methods have not gotten attention. Organic
fertilizers help to maintain long run soil fertility with less cost on farmlands and the surrounding
environment, but require long processes. On the contrary, inorganic fertilizers help to achieve
crop productivity within a short period of time but maintain short term soil fertility (usually for a
single cropping season). Likewise, insecticides and pesticides have tremendous impacts on the
environment and health of animals, plants and human beings. Age, sex, number of labor forces,
number of livestock, number of farm plots, contact with DAs and farmers’ participation on
community forums and panel discussions with regard to farmland management are the main
determinants of the adoption and implementation of improved farmland management practices.
Government policies, sources of fuel energy, problem of properly integrating indigenous and introduced management practices, absence of other alternative engagements, animal feeding systems, grazing and plowing systems and farmers’ reluctance for carrying responsibility are the other constraining factorsS
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Geography and Environmental Studies