Watt, Ian (PhD)Assefa, Getachew2022-05-132023-11-192022-05-132023-11-191991-09http://etd.aau.edu.et/handle/12345678/31658Dugda district is found in South Shewa Administra ti ve Region, in the northern part of Adamitulu A,,,raja. The district is lying within the floor of the South Central Rift Valley system and 1.S a typical example of the lowland zone of Ethiopia. The ethnic structure of the rural population of the Dugda is dominated by two ethnic groups: the Gurage and Jille aroma. According to 1 oca 1 legend, each group has its own centre of origion, culture and way of life which are partly ref 1 ected 1.n thei~' present settl ement. Today the Gurage of Dugda live mainly on the undulating plains and uplands of the woinadeqa agro-eco1ogica1 zone of the nothwestern and western parts of the district. On the other hand, the Jillc are inhabiting the extensive moist Kalla agro-eco1ogical zone that constitutes the North - South stretches of the eastern side of Dugda district. Therefore, the main objectives of this study have been to assess the land use pattern of the Gurage and Jill e farmers of Dugda and their atti tude towards differnet land uses (e.g. cultivation and animal husband~'Y)' The necessary data for these objectives were collected mainly through field survey of 90 Gurage and 110 Ji1le farmers . These have involved a two level of sampling techniques. For a detail study of land use history and field visits a total of 41 farmers (19 from the Gurage and 22 from the Ji 11 e), or 3% of the members of the se1 ected PAS of each social group were visited by the writer. Beside this, a tota I of 161 farmers 189 from the Jille and 72 from the Gurage) , or .12 ~; of the farmers of the selected PAS 'verI" surveyed by the r-numerator.c;. In order to analyse Ihe data percentages ,coefficient of variation, C/u square, standard devi a ti on, Simple correlation and regress~on, and analysis of var~ance techniques have been employed. The research revealed that the Gurage farmers have a larger hol dings than the Jill e farmers, the average ho1 ding per farmer for each group being 2.86 ha and 2.26 ha, respectively, The finding also indicated greater disparities ~n farm size among the Jille than the Gurage farmers. The study revealed that fragmentation is greater among the Gurag(' than among the Jil1e farmers, the average number of fields per farmer being 4.51 and 3.08, respecti vely. The land-use survey of the Gurage and Ji11e farmers indicated thr> existence of distinct pattern of crop zonation around the homesteads of the farmers. In the writer's v~e'" it ~s the type and spatial distribution of soils, whatever their distance from the home stead, thaI" determines the zonation of crops around the settlement of the Gurage and the Jille farmers of Dudga. This finding vindicated Ruthenberg's finding of land usc z onation ~n tropical Africa. The assessement of the atti tudes of the Gurage and Ji1le farmers revealed that both farmers of the groups seem to support the policy that emphasizes more animal husbandry than crop cultivation, because of the risk involved in crop damage due to climate. The study recommended that the future land-use policy of the MOA in Dugda should take into account the experiences and desires of the farmers as well as the prevailing environmental constraints in the district.enLand- useThesis