Land Degradation and Sustainable Land Management in the Upper Blue Nile: The Case of North Gojjam Sub-Basin

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Date

2021-07

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Addis Ababa University

Abstract

Ethiopia is facing an acute land degradation problem attributable to complex natural and manmade drivers, and this challenged the ability of rural farmers to meet the growing of food demand. The main objective of this study was to assess land degradation and sustainable land management to improve household food security in the north Gojjam sub-basin of the Upper Blue Nile. The study was depended on the holistic data gathered through multistage sampling via different instruments including from Landsat images, 414 randomly selected households’ survey, key informant interviews, series of focus group discussions, and field observation. Landsat images were analyzed using ArcGIS10.5, QGIS3.1, and ERDAS IMAGINE14 software. Whereas socioeconomic data were analyzed using advanced econometric models and simple descriptive statistics using STATA14 and Microsoft excel. The analysis of the LULC results informs that agricultural land use was the most dominant cover, followed by grazing land and bush and shrublands. From the period 1986 to 2017 there were significant LULC changes in the sub-basin. Agriculture and plantation forest covers have been increased, but other land covers (waterbodies, bar land, forest, grazing land, and bush and shrublands) have been decreased due to human and natural driving and pressure. The RUSLE showed that on average 46t ha-1 yr-1 or a total of 65.21 million tons of topsoil have been lost annually from the sub-basin. The finding of combined spatial multicriteria analysis (MCA) of biological, chemical, and physical land degradation indicators show, one-third of the sub-basin was highly degraded. Similarly, land users also confirmed as land degradation is a severe problem and has been increasing in the last 10 years. There was a consensus with land owners as the productivity of crops, livestock, and the quantity and quality of water and firewood have been declined and in turn, adversely affect the income and food security of the community. The most widely used SLM measures in the sub-basin were inorganic fertilizer, soil bund, and animal manure. The result from MVP model analysis shows that most adopted SLM technologies are complementary. The model result also depicts farm size, family size, male-headed household, participating in local institution, perception on soil erosion severity, livestock size, total income, and extension service increased the adoption probability of most SLM technologies. The result of the endogenous switching regression (ESR) model shown that the adoption of integrated SLM technologies significantly increased rural farm household food security. Hence, the study suggested that drivers of land degradation should be ceased and sustainable resource use is required, otherwise the limited land resources will be soon lost and no longer be able to play their role in socio-economic development. The adoption of integrated SLM technologies contributes to improving households’ welfare and the pathway for reducing rural poverty. Thus, ISLM practice should be promoted in the study area and elsewhere through the motivating of land users via education and training as well as increasing the supply of external agriculture inputs.

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Keywords

Land Degradation, Land Use Land Cover, Impact, Livelihood, Sustainable Land management, food security, Universal soil loss Equation, Multifactorial Analysis

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