ASSESSMENT OF FARMERS‟ ADOPTION LEVEL OF SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION PRACTICES: THE CASE OF CHENCHA ZURIYA WOREDA, GAMO ZONE, SOUTHERN NATIONS NATIONALITIES AND PEOPLES‟ REGION, ETHIOPIA

Abstract

Despite long time since soil and water conservation practiced there is high extent of soil erosion particularly in highland areas of Ethiopia. Therefore this study aimed to assess’ farmers adoption level of soil and water conservation (SWC) practices in Chencha Zuriya Wereda. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected from primary and secondary source of data. Survey questionnaire were administered to collect data from randomly selected 138 sample farmers from the study area. Study data were collected through questionnaire, focus group discussions, key informant interview and field observation. Both descriptive statistics and a two left censored tobit model were employed to analyze the data. The study result showed that 89.9% 0f respondents perceived soil erosion as a problem and 92.1percents perceived that soil erosion can be controlled with proper SWC practices. But there are problems to implement and adopt SWC practices in the Wereda these are; shortage of labor, rodents and other pest, difficult to turn oxen and the space that it occupies. The study showed in addition that more crop rotation, farm yard manur, inorganic fertilizer, cutoff drain and planting trees were implemented on study area. The econometric model result revealed that age, number of contact with development agents per month, farm experience in year, participation in SWC training, distance to farm land from home and Education level of household head were significant effect on adoption level of SWC practice. Age and participation in SWC training, distance to farm land from home have significance positive influence on farmer’s adoption level of SWC practice. Based on the finding, the study recommended that Farmers had enough perception on soil erosion and they believe that it is controlled by SWC practice but the problem was provision of practice those fit their condition, so Bureau of Agriculture, Programs and projects working on SWC should participate farmer in planning of SWC Practice, the government and stakeholders should focus on strengthening the provision of training focusing on promotion of improved SWC practice