Assessment of the impacts of land degradation and rehabilitation strategies of the community in Meinit Goldiya woreda.

Abstract

Land degradation is a major global issue for the 20th century and will remainhigh on the international agenda even for the 21st century. Land degradation includes all process that diminishes the capacity of land resources to perform essential functions and services in ecosystems are caused by two interlocking complex systems: the natural ecosystem and the human social system. The general objective this study is to assess the impacts of land resource degradation and rehabilitation strategies of the community in MeinitGoldiyaworeda. The study was conducted in Meinit Goldiya woreda, South West Ethiopia people regional state, Ethiopia. The Annual rainfall in the area ranges from 1700-2000 mm, bimodal with the main rainy season from June to August and the short rainy season from late March to May, with mean annual temperature of 18˚C. A total of 97 households were randomly selected and interviewed in four kebeles. The majority of the sample respondents (72%) were male, while the remaining (28%) were female. The household size of respondents ranges from 3 to 12 with the average of 7 members. the size of the farmlands of the sample respondents, results from household inventory shows that about 54.2% of the household heads have farm lands greater than 3ha hectares and the remaining 37.4%, 3.8%, 3.4% and 1.2% household heads have farm land size ranging between 2-3, 1-2 , 0.5-1ha and less than 0.5 hectares respectively. The livelihood of the people in the study area depended on livestock production, crop collection and off/non-farm activities. Findings from group discussion shows that the annual crops are mainly planted after the rains begin, allowing early rains to directly impact the soil contributing to high erosion levels. The survey result shows that About 186 (94.9%) of the sample household heads respond that there is a land degradation problem on their farmland ixand the remaining 5.1%. household heads replied there is no land degradation on their farmland. Regarding the indicators of land degradation, respondents were asked to show the indicators of land degradation, results of household inventory showed that about 75.2% of respondents replied that reduction of land productivity from year to year is the main indicator for land degradation in the study area and the remaining 21.4%, 2.3% 1.1% reduction of livestock productivity, reduction of water availability and occurrence of dynamic climate change respectively. based on information from the survey result, out of the total sample studied households approximately 48.7% of the respondents replied that deforestation was main causesand the remaining 38.6%, 11.1% and 1.6% relied population growth, improper farming practice and overgrazing respectively.