Abstract:
The study was undertaken in Lemmo woreda, Hadiya Zone, Southern Ethiopia by assessing the challenges and prospects of land rehabilitation and restoration practices. Both primary and secondary data were generated by household questionnaire, KKI, FGD and field Observation. Purposive sampling technique was used to select three kebels from the total of 34 kebeles. From the total of targeted population, 184 household heads were selected by using systematic random sampling. Data analysis was carried out by using quantitative and qualitative description. The quantitative data were analysed by using frequency, percentage, mean and chi-square when appropriate and the LULC is also analysed and qualitative data were analysed by verbal description. The findings of the study indicated that burning of crop residual, inter- cropping; manuring and crop rotation are the known appropriate indigenous practices for land rehabilitation restoration. In addition to this, grass strip, area closure, contour tree planting and composting are the most appropriate modern practices for landrestoration and rehabilitation. The population pressure, age of household, land holding size, lack of education and off-farm economic activities are the socio-economic factor and institutional factor like access to extension services, governmental factor and non-governmental factors affect the land rehabilitation and restoration practices of the study area. However, currently farmers apply different land rehabilitation practices like SWC (terracing, soil/stone bound, gabion and mulching), agro-forestry and area enclosure. The LULC analysis show the highest change in land use land cover type from 1988-2018 in the study area. Thus, to minimize the challenges of land rehabilitation and restoration, awareness creation and continuous training, creating opportunities for alternative means of livelihood and promoting Governmental and NGOs effort to involve in land rehabilitation practices are critically needed in the study area
