ENVIRONMENT AND POPULATION PRESSURE ON SCARCE FARMLAND OF SUBSISTENCE FARMING COMMUNITY: A CASE STUDY FROM DITA WOREDA, GAMO GOFA ZONE, SOUTH WESTERN ETHIOPIA

Abstract

Population Pressure and Farm Land are interdependent variables of subsistence farming community. However, identification of the numerous factors that determine the abilities of rural household’s choice of livelihood strategies in Ethiopia has received little attention despite its increasing threat over the poor. Though the linkages are mediated by many complex and often context-specific factors, there is strong evidence that dependence on natural resources intensifies when households lose human and social capital through adult morbidity and mortality, and qualified evidence for the influence of environmental factors on household decision-making regarding fertility and migration. Two decades of research on lifecycles and land cover change at the farm level have yielded a number of insights about how households make use of different land-use and natural resource management strategies at different stages. Moreover,line running throughout the review is the importance of managing risk through livelihood diversification, ensuring future income secur ity, and culture-specific norms regarding appropriate and desirable activities and demographic responses. This research was therefore proposed with the aim of generating location specific data on population pressure and farm land scarcity of subsistence farming community and its determinants in Dita Woreda of Gamo highland, southern Ethiopia. A two stage stratified random sampling technique was employed to select 1897 household heads from the total human population of 15697 in the three sample kebeles(Ganakare, W/daycha and Tsela) and a sample size of 152 were taken. In percentage, sample population and sample size were 12.08% and 8% respectively. Data was collected using key informant interview, focus group discussion and interview schedule.