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Impact of Integrated Soil and Water Conservation Program on Crop Production and Income in West Harerghe Zone, Ethiopia

Received: 9 July 2013     Published: 20 August 2013
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Abstract

Land degradation has been identified as one of the most serious problems that threaten the sustainability of agriculture in Ethiopia. In an effort to address these problems, the basic paradigm and approach to soil and water conservation has itself evolved over time. In recent years more holistic and land-scape wide approaches that go beyond resource conservation towards improved land husbandry and water management for beneficial conservation have been promoted using a national guideline known as Community Based Participatory Watershed Development, where its impact is yet to be seen. In this respect, after having worked for many years on the core part of land management practices, some projects realized the need for value adding and natural resources management (NRM)-based income generation at household level. Hence, the major concern of this study was to evaluate the impact of those integrated land management interventions on crop production value per hectare and annual gross income of smallholder farm households in West Harerghe Zone of Oromia National Regional State. To meet this objective a total of 398 sample households, consisting 183 soil and water conservation program and 215 non-program participants, were randomly selected from nine program and nine counterfactual kebeles in three districts (DaroLabu, Messela and Oda Bultum). Descriptive statistics with appropriate statistical tests and propensity score matching (PSM) were used to meet the stated objective. Results of the descriptive statistics showed that before matching there was difference between program and non-program households in terms of sex, education, farming experience, land holding and livestock ownership. Estimates of propensity score matching (PSM) indicate the existence of a positive additional significant crop production value premium of birr 1,510.42 (US$ 80.55) per hectare and annual gross income of birr 4,288.29 (US$ 228.7) for program groups compared to non-program groups. This indicates that on average participant households earned 8.3 percent more crop production value per hectare and 21.2 percent more gross household income than their matches. The independent analysis result of the data also revealed that the value of crop production was fairly higher on moisture stress program kebeles (1,771.35 EB/hectare) than in the high rainfall areas of the program (1,439.28 EB/hectare). Therefore, in agriculture dependent country like Ethiopia, soil and water conservation is crucial in improving the livelihoods of the rural farm households. However, to realize the intended outcomes, agro-ecology specific technologies that are linked with natural resource management based income generating activities should be promoted.

Published in International Journal of Environmental Monitoring and Analysis (Volume 1, Issue 4)
DOI 10.11648/j.ijema.20130104.11
Page(s) 111-120
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2013. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Ethiopia, Soil and Water Conservation, Crop Production, Propensity Score Matching

References
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[11] EfD (Environment for Development), 2010. Green Accounting Puts Price on Ethiopian Soil Erosion and Deforestation:http//:www.efdinitiative.org/centers/Ethiopia/the enviroment-for development-imitative: Cited on June 2010
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Cite This Article
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    Yenealem Kassa, Fekadu Beyene, Jema Haji, Belaineh Legesse. (2013). Impact of Integrated Soil and Water Conservation Program on Crop Production and Income in West Harerghe Zone, Ethiopia. International Journal of Environmental Monitoring and Analysis, 1(4), 111-120. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijema.20130104.11

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    ACS Style

    Yenealem Kassa; Fekadu Beyene; Jema Haji; Belaineh Legesse. Impact of Integrated Soil and Water Conservation Program on Crop Production and Income in West Harerghe Zone, Ethiopia. Int. J. Environ. Monit. Anal. 2013, 1(4), 111-120. doi: 10.11648/j.ijema.20130104.11

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    AMA Style

    Yenealem Kassa, Fekadu Beyene, Jema Haji, Belaineh Legesse. Impact of Integrated Soil and Water Conservation Program on Crop Production and Income in West Harerghe Zone, Ethiopia. Int J Environ Monit Anal. 2013;1(4):111-120. doi: 10.11648/j.ijema.20130104.11

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ijema.20130104.11,
      author = {Yenealem Kassa and Fekadu Beyene and Jema Haji and Belaineh Legesse},
      title = {Impact of Integrated Soil and Water Conservation Program on Crop Production and Income in West Harerghe Zone, Ethiopia},
      journal = {International Journal of Environmental Monitoring and Analysis},
      volume = {1},
      number = {4},
      pages = {111-120},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ijema.20130104.11},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijema.20130104.11},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijema.20130104.11},
      abstract = {Land degradation has been identified as one of the most serious problems that threaten the sustainability of agriculture in Ethiopia. In an effort to address these problems, the basic paradigm and approach to soil and water conservation has itself evolved over time. In recent years more holistic and land-scape wide approaches that go beyond resource conservation towards improved land husbandry and water management for beneficial conservation have been promoted using a national guideline known as Community Based Participatory Watershed Development, where  its impact is yet to be seen. In this respect, after having worked for many years on the core part of land management practices, some projects realized the need for value adding and natural resources management (NRM)-based income generation at household level. Hence, the major concern of this study was to evaluate the impact of those integrated land management interventions on crop production value per hectare and annual gross income of smallholder farm households in West Harerghe Zone of Oromia National Regional State. To meet this objective a total of 398 sample households, consisting 183 soil and water conservation program and 215 non-program participants, were randomly selected from nine program and nine counterfactual kebeles in three districts (DaroLabu, Messela and Oda Bultum). Descriptive statistics with appropriate statistical tests and propensity score matching (PSM) were used to meet the stated objective. Results of the descriptive statistics showed that before matching there was difference between program and non-program households in terms of sex, education, farming experience, land holding and livestock ownership. Estimates of propensity score matching (PSM) indicate the existence of a positive additional significant crop production value premium of birr 1,510.42 (US$ 80.55) per hectare and annual gross income of birr 4,288.29 (US$ 228.7) for program groups compared to non-program groups. This indicates that on average participant households earned 8.3 percent more crop production value per hectare and 21.2 percent more gross household income than their matches. The independent analysis result of the data also revealed that the value of crop production was fairly higher on moisture stress program kebeles (1,771.35 EB/hectare) than in the high rainfall areas of the program (1,439.28 EB/hectare). Therefore, in agriculture dependent country like Ethiopia, soil and water conservation is crucial in improving the livelihoods of the rural farm households. However, to realize the intended outcomes, agro-ecology specific technologies that are linked with natural resource management based income generating activities should be promoted.},
     year = {2013}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Impact of Integrated Soil and Water Conservation Program on Crop Production and Income in West Harerghe Zone, Ethiopia
    AU  - Yenealem Kassa
    AU  - Fekadu Beyene
    AU  - Jema Haji
    AU  - Belaineh Legesse
    Y1  - 2013/08/20
    PY  - 2013
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijema.20130104.11
    DO  - 10.11648/j.ijema.20130104.11
    T2  - International Journal of Environmental Monitoring and Analysis
    JF  - International Journal of Environmental Monitoring and Analysis
    JO  - International Journal of Environmental Monitoring and Analysis
    SP  - 111
    EP  - 120
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2328-7667
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijema.20130104.11
    AB  - Land degradation has been identified as one of the most serious problems that threaten the sustainability of agriculture in Ethiopia. In an effort to address these problems, the basic paradigm and approach to soil and water conservation has itself evolved over time. In recent years more holistic and land-scape wide approaches that go beyond resource conservation towards improved land husbandry and water management for beneficial conservation have been promoted using a national guideline known as Community Based Participatory Watershed Development, where  its impact is yet to be seen. In this respect, after having worked for many years on the core part of land management practices, some projects realized the need for value adding and natural resources management (NRM)-based income generation at household level. Hence, the major concern of this study was to evaluate the impact of those integrated land management interventions on crop production value per hectare and annual gross income of smallholder farm households in West Harerghe Zone of Oromia National Regional State. To meet this objective a total of 398 sample households, consisting 183 soil and water conservation program and 215 non-program participants, were randomly selected from nine program and nine counterfactual kebeles in three districts (DaroLabu, Messela and Oda Bultum). Descriptive statistics with appropriate statistical tests and propensity score matching (PSM) were used to meet the stated objective. Results of the descriptive statistics showed that before matching there was difference between program and non-program households in terms of sex, education, farming experience, land holding and livestock ownership. Estimates of propensity score matching (PSM) indicate the existence of a positive additional significant crop production value premium of birr 1,510.42 (US$ 80.55) per hectare and annual gross income of birr 4,288.29 (US$ 228.7) for program groups compared to non-program groups. This indicates that on average participant households earned 8.3 percent more crop production value per hectare and 21.2 percent more gross household income than their matches. The independent analysis result of the data also revealed that the value of crop production was fairly higher on moisture stress program kebeles (1,771.35 EB/hectare) than in the high rainfall areas of the program (1,439.28 EB/hectare). Therefore, in agriculture dependent country like Ethiopia, soil and water conservation is crucial in improving the livelihoods of the rural farm households. However, to realize the intended outcomes, agro-ecology specific technologies that are linked with natural resource management based income generating activities should be promoted.
    VL  - 1
    IS  - 4
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • Department of Rural Development and Agricultural Extension, Haramaya University, Ethiopia

  • Department of Rural Development and Agricultural Extension, Haramaya University, Ethiopia

  • Department of Agricultural Economics, Haramaya University, Ethiopia

  • Department of Agricultural Economics, Haramaya University, Ethiopia

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