Nearly eighty percent of the population of Ethiopia lives in rural areas. Most of them survive on traditional agricultural activities. They depend on natural resources, primarily rain-fed agriculture and cattle grazing. A large proportion of the cropland consists of small scale rain-fed household production systems. Due to the high growth rate of the rural population, there is pressure on the land, causing soil erosion and degradation. This resulted in low productivity of land contributing to rural poverty. The major cause of soil erosion was the expansive rather than intensive farming of land. Traditional agriculture in the country is mainly based on farming huge tracts of land with outdated techniques of production. This system of farming resulted in low yields, with little marketable surplus, keeping the rural people in a vicious circle of poverty.
Researchers noted that as land was cultivated at the expense of other land uses the size of the grassland declined. This resulted in lesser land available for fodder and in a decrease in the size and quality of livestock. This created shortage of animals for plowing and transport. This situation resulted in the shortage of food from animals and their products. Also, other related impacts negatively affected the traditional land management system. It is pointed out that when livestock and fodder was plentiful, manuring was an important practice in farming. It contributed to soil fertility and production without additional cost to the farmer except his labor. With a decline in fodder, the number of livestock fell, and manuring was gradually reduced.
The shortage of manure leads to high demand for it. Added to this, the shortage of wood intensifies scarcity of fuel wood in the rural areas. Moreover, bare land is used as grazing plot as the livestock are forced to stay on it. During the cropping season, there is little for the livestock to feed on. This is one of the practices adopted by farmers when the rural population grows and land becomes scarce. The farming system remains traditional while most of the grasslands are converted to cultivable lands. In this case, both livestock and cultivation take over marginal lands, eventually leading to even more severe land degradation. Studies reveal that the Ethiopian highlands within the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) watershed are considered to be one of the most severe cases of watershed degradation in Ethiopia.
Watershed degradation is generally associated with soil erosion, which causes reservoir sedimentation. The degraded soil conditions result in rural poverty and food insecurity. This situation creates malnutrition among the rural people. To avoid starvation of people and their livestock, it is absolutely essential to prevent soil erosion and maintain its fertility. Such measures support productive and sustainable agriculture and sustain long-term hydropower production. In this respect, scientific sediment management strategies are prerequisite for GERD. A variety of interventions by the government should be aimed at improving land management practices. This would substantially improve the economic benefits that accrue to farmers. This would also simultaneously reduce soil erosion.
Studies show that the watershed in northern Ethiopiais severely degraded by overgrazing, resulting in soil erosion. In improving the local watershed, the greatest challenge is to shift from free grazing to the use of enclosures fields for feeding the livestock. To relieve the grazing pressure, it would be necessary to replant trees for controlling erosion. Initially, there would be skepticism in communities that have no experience with enclosures for livestock feeding and management system. However, working closely with interested farmers in a given area of the watershed, it has been possible to build dams and plant trees to stabilize the gullies, valleys, gorges and ravines. It has also been possible to demonstrate that the dams would accumulate eroding soil and allow for growing crops, vegetables and forage.
Experience shows that the amount of forage production exceeds the needs of the livestock that, previously, had barely survived when grazing freely. Feeding the livestock in enclosures is, therefore, very productive. Studies indicate that the key to success in watershed management lies not in the building of erosion control structures only, but also in changing the economic activities of the community. This allows for sustainable agricultural production systems. With grazing pressure removed, new vegetation occurs rapidly in the moist soil held by the dams. Vegetation also begins to recover on the soil once the livestock is confined. This allows for young plants not to be immediately consumed by wandering animals.
Vegetative growth enhanced soil infiltration and penetration capacity and improved soil structure. This leads to higher soil moisture levels and more vegetation, establishing a positive land restoration. Through prevention of free grazing and producing sufficient forage to support the livestock, the rural communities would benefit from changing their production systems. The changed systems enhanced the value of farm production through different means which are indicated here. The first measure is gulley rehabilitation by the community for livestock management with controlled grazing system. This has to be linked to forage production around farm terraces and homesteads.
The next measure is to have area closures to rehabilitate degraded mountains and hills that used to serve as grazing lands. This requires protecting the land against free grazing through agreements among the communities. The third measure is farm development designed to enhance household income and empower women as well as households. It covers home garden, fruit trees, and forage plantings around the household compound. It introduces new fruits, bee-keeping, poultry, dairy and animal production, compost-making, fuel saving stove and improved water sources, shallow well or pond. The fourth measure is developing permanently vegetated soil and water conservation terraces that are established between crop fields. These are planted with fruit trees and forage bushes to make the “conservation” economically productive.
The next step is to use techniques that improve soil moisture capacity and fertility through the use of leaves, straws, chaffs, barks, grasses and compost. The last measure is to use nurseries to produce biological materials such as tree, forage bushes, grass, fruit and other seedlings for transplanting. Based on these technology packages, the economic benefits to farmers are clearly evident, in increasing production and purchasing power. With improved standard of living comes the replacement of thatched roof with corrugated iron sheets. As development proceeds, financing structures to facilitate productive investment become more important to allow the purchase of means of transport by the community to deliver products to the market. This prevents the exploitation of farmers by middlemen.
Improved agricultural productivity leads to better income for the farmers. Technologies that improve soil management make land management a self-sustaining activity. The key to long-term success in watershed management lies not only in the building of erosion control structures but also in the changing of the economic activities of the household. They enable them to embrace sustainable production systems. To be productive and sustainable these systems must retain top soil on the farm. As a result, erosion control occurs as a natural and self-sustaining system of farming. Thus, focusing on the household economic unit is emphasized and encouraged.
In the past, Ethiopia has focused only on rehabilitation of watersheds and less on activities that enhance income of the farming households. This proved to be wrong through time as rehabilitation intervention alone could not improve income within a short time. Over the years, however, it has been realized that watershed development intervention should “include” economic development as a major component. This has been well-organized in the form of rural household intervention. This approach helped many farmers to be food secure through the combination of rehabilitation and economic development interventions. Such interventions generated income for rural families and it kept malnutrition at bay.
The key underlying strategy for fighting rural malnutrition is to improve productivity and economic value through augmenting of soil fertility. This is accompanied by the conversion of poorer soils to woodlands for firewood and building materials, pasture, or tree crops. Several methods have to be adopted to enable the farmer to enjoy higher income and enhanced economic security. This approach provides self-sustaining economic incentives derived from the land itself. This, in turn, enables farmers to maintain and improve soils and sustain vegetative cover without additional external incentives or expenses. They could also reduce sediment by changing land use system that requires a significant and sustained effort.
Productive intervention requires the involvement of thousands of small farmers in a given locality. In reality, such large-scale intervention may be achieved through the participation of several entities including government, local NGOs, and the private sector. In some cases, with small watersheds there may be the opportunity for effective development using dams.
However, watershed management project is not, in most cases, may involve many organizations at all levels. Hydropower producers can play key roles in this process by using their available funds to help develop and demonstrate viable technology packages. This may help in sustaining work at demonstration sites. They may be copied and disseminated to farmers throughout the watershed by formal and informal means. An economically successful system is likely to be adopted by farmers. Dissemination of appropriate productive technology packages by local rural development agents is sine qua non for preventing land degradation and malnutrition in the rural areas of Ethiopia.
Editor’s Note: The views entertained in this article do not necessarily reflect the stance of The
BY GETACHEW MINAS
THURSDAY 10 MARCH 2022
