Perception of Local Community towards Soil and Water Conservation in the Case of Damote Boloso Kebele, Damote Gale Woreda, Wolaita Zone

Abstract

The adoption of improved soil and water conservation technologies in developing countries has attracted much attention from scientists and policy makers mainly because land degradation is a key problem for agricultural production. The study was conducted in Damote Boloso Kebele, Damote Gale Woreda with the main objective to identify existing soil and water conservation measures while assessing local community perception towards soil and water conservation measures. During the study simple random sampling technique was used to select sample respondents and hence a total of 33 sample size was considered. Primary data was collected using a household survey, interviews, focus group discussions and field observations. The data was analyzed using SPSS version 16. The result indicates that almost all respondents have perceived well about problem of soil erosion and showed preference to adopt newly introduced soil and water conservation measures while maintaining existing practices. The most common physical soil and water conservation measures practiced in the study area are soil bund and Fanya juu and dip trench even though it is newly introduced practice. The study have shown that 46%, 21% and 33% of respondents insured that training and extension service was provided by Developmental agents, Non  Governmental Organization and both Developmental agents and Non Governmental Organization respectively, even though it is inconsistent. Nevertheless, there has been  factors like shortage of land, soil and water conservation measures are source of rodents, labor shortage, lack of consistent extension service and regularity are affecting the farmer’s to fully practice the technologies. The study emphasizes that many of these problems were related to a lack of farmer’s involvement in the conservation efforts and suggests that future soil and water conservation interventions should follow a real farmer participatory approach in the areas. In addition, farmer’s should have a greater awareness of the economic significance of soil erosion on their cultivated fields; they need training on the impacts of erosion and the conservation technologies available to control soil loss; and farmer’s with labor shortages need to be provided with support that enables them to retain their conservation technologies.