Farmers’ Perception and Adoption of Soil and Water Conservation Measures: the case of Gidan Wereda, North Wello, Ethiopia

Abstract

Agriculture is the mainstay of the Ethiopian economy upon which the livelihood of the vast majority of the population depends directly or indirectly. Soil erosion is the serious problems in many part of Ethiopia threatening the very life supporting system of the country. To reverse this problem, soil and water conservation (SWC) technologies were introduced in some degraded and food insecure areas mainly through food for work incentives in the country. The major objective of this study was to assess farmers' perception on indigenous and introduced SWC measures and identify factors affecting the adoption of introduced SWC measures in Gidan Wereda, North Wello. The study was based on information collected through a questionnaire survey of 100 systematic randomly selected household heads, a focus group discussions, key informant interview and field observations as well as secondary sources. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive and qualitative technique. The findings have shown that the newly introduced SWC measures have got good perception, acceptance and widely practiced by farmers. The major factors that were encouraging the farmers in adopting the introduced SWC measures on their plots of land were found to be perception of soil erosion as a critical problem, availability of labor, small land holding size, access to extensions service, land tenure security, participation and positive attitude of farmers towards introduced SWC measures. In general, the study concludes by recommending that the project should integrate the indigenous and biological measures with the physical measures to ensure further sustainability of the introduced SWC measures.

Keywords: adoption, gidan wereda, indigenous swc, introduced swc, perception