A participatory soil quality assessment in Northern Ethiopia's Mai-Negus catchment

Local communities often have substantial knowledge related to trends in soil quality and the associated limiting factors. Despite this, soil quality (SQ) degradation is a critical problem in Ethiopia and there is little or insufficient scientific information documenting local community experience in...

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Main Authors: Brhane Tesfahunegn, Gebrayesus, Tamene, Lulseged D., Vlek, Paul L.G.
Format: Journal Article
Language:Inglés
Published: Elsevier 2011
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/42534
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author Brhane Tesfahunegn, Gebrayesus
Tamene, Lulseged D.
Vlek, Paul L.G.
author_browse Brhane Tesfahunegn, Gebrayesus
Tamene, Lulseged D.
Vlek, Paul L.G.
author_facet Brhane Tesfahunegn, Gebrayesus
Tamene, Lulseged D.
Vlek, Paul L.G.
author_sort Brhane Tesfahunegn, Gebrayesus
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Local communities often have substantial knowledge related to trends in soil quality and the associated limiting factors. Despite this, soil quality (SQ) degradation is a critical problem in Ethiopia and there is little or insufficient scientific information documenting local community experience in assessing SQ. This paper presents experiences of local communities in diagnosis of SQ and assesses the contribution of local knowledge as a strategy for sustainable development decision making within the Mai-Negus catchment of northern Ethiopia. Participatory transect-walks, group discussions and field observation which complemented by household interview were used to acquire data. Farmers identified SQ indicators e.g., crop yield, soil depth, erosion and sedimentation as their basis of categorizing the soils into high, medium and low SQ. They were also able to identify severely degraded areas (hotspots) and underlying causes. Significant variations (P ? 0.05) were shown between the proportions of farmers used certain SQ indicator and those who didn't while categorizing SQ. Local farmers involved in this study demonstrated their capability to suggest appropriate land management solutions for specific problems. This study demonstrates the benefit of involving local farmers in both problem identification and solution development so that anti-degradation technologies can easily be implemented and adopted.
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spelling CGSpace425342024-08-27T10:34:57Z A participatory soil quality assessment in Northern Ethiopia's Mai-Negus catchment Brhane Tesfahunegn, Gebrayesus Tamene, Lulseged D. Vlek, Paul L.G. soil quality degradation ethiophia calidad del suelo degradación etiopia Local communities often have substantial knowledge related to trends in soil quality and the associated limiting factors. Despite this, soil quality (SQ) degradation is a critical problem in Ethiopia and there is little or insufficient scientific information documenting local community experience in assessing SQ. This paper presents experiences of local communities in diagnosis of SQ and assesses the contribution of local knowledge as a strategy for sustainable development decision making within the Mai-Negus catchment of northern Ethiopia. Participatory transect-walks, group discussions and field observation which complemented by household interview were used to acquire data. Farmers identified SQ indicators e.g., crop yield, soil depth, erosion and sedimentation as their basis of categorizing the soils into high, medium and low SQ. They were also able to identify severely degraded areas (hotspots) and underlying causes. Significant variations (P ? 0.05) were shown between the proportions of farmers used certain SQ indicator and those who didn't while categorizing SQ. Local farmers involved in this study demonstrated their capability to suggest appropriate land management solutions for specific problems. This study demonstrates the benefit of involving local farmers in both problem identification and solution development so that anti-degradation technologies can easily be implemented and adopted. 2011-07 2014-09-24T07:58:09Z 2014-09-24T07:58:09Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/42534 en Limited Access Elsevier
spellingShingle soil quality
degradation
ethiophia
calidad del suelo
degradación
etiopia
Brhane Tesfahunegn, Gebrayesus
Tamene, Lulseged D.
Vlek, Paul L.G.
A participatory soil quality assessment in Northern Ethiopia's Mai-Negus catchment
title A participatory soil quality assessment in Northern Ethiopia's Mai-Negus catchment
title_full A participatory soil quality assessment in Northern Ethiopia's Mai-Negus catchment
title_fullStr A participatory soil quality assessment in Northern Ethiopia's Mai-Negus catchment
title_full_unstemmed A participatory soil quality assessment in Northern Ethiopia's Mai-Negus catchment
title_short A participatory soil quality assessment in Northern Ethiopia's Mai-Negus catchment
title_sort participatory soil quality assessment in northern ethiopia s mai negus catchment
topic soil quality
degradation
ethiophia
calidad del suelo
degradación
etiopia
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/42534
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