Legass, Asmamaw (PhD)Alemu, Getachew2018-07-022023-11-192018-07-022023-11-192014-06http://etd.aau.edu.et/handle/12345678/5425The study was conducted on assessing the impact of soil erosion and conservation practices in Sululta woreda Oromia regional state, Ethiopia with the objectives of assess people’s perception on the extent, and consequences of soil erosion and conserving soils by constructing soil conservation measures. To address the objectives of the study both primary and secondary data were collected. The primary data were collected from 131 sample households who are selected from 3 kebele Administrations in Sululta woreda and household sample was obtained using a simple random sampling technique. Interview was conducted with expert of woreda, elder and leader person in selected kebeles, field observation and discussion was made among different communities about the impact and soil conservation practices were constructed. Farmers perceived the causes of soil erosion in their lands as slope steepness of cultivation fields, overgrazing and absence of fallowing with many time preparations of soil for cropping and similarly, they perceived indicators of the existence of erosion. For them, poor crop production, absence of fertile top soil, gully development and stoniness of soil were main indicators to soil erosion on their land. Severity of soil erosion in the study area explained as severe, moderate, minor soil erosion and cultivation fields had severe erosion risk. Consequently, farmers well understood the impact of soil erosion on their farms and recognized as loss of topsoil, reduction of yield over time, requiring high input and management, lack of farm land and grazing field, and out migration. Soil conservation measures practiced in the study area included stone bunds, cutoff drains, soil bunds, waterways, check dams. Yet farmers have been using biological and agronomic soil conservation measures either separately or in combination with structural soil conservation measures. Practices of structural soil conservation measures have been influenced by many factors. Aged farmers have practiced structural soil conservation less likely than young farmers. Female farmers also showed high interest towards structural soil conservation, yet they invested little and rarely practiced. On the contrary, educated farmers, household sizes, farmers involved in off farm jobs, perceiving soil erosion well, having contact with DAs and training provide a fertile ground for increased practice of structural soil conservation measures. Thus, the important recommendations which are found to be of paramount importance from the findings of this study include: bottom-up participatory planning, implementation and monitoring by the real stakeholders at grassroots, publicity on land management practices, which should be done mostly on mass media, training the farmers and others. Key words:- Soil erosion, impact of soil erosion, soil conservationenSoil ErosionImpact of Soil ErosionSoil ConservationThesis