Farmers’ Response to Environmental Problems and Factors Determining Land Resources Management Practices in the Kasso Catchment, South Eastern Ethiopia

Abstract

The study was conducted in the Kasso catchment of south eastern Ethiopia to investigate
local farmers’ response to environmental degradation and factors determining their
decision making and choice of land management practices. Structured and semi structured
questionnaires were designed to collect information on the required data. Focus group
discussions (FGDs) and interviews with key informants were also carried out to supplement
household survey. Descriptive statistics was used to describe and analyse the collected data
from household survey. Results indicated that contour cultivation (73.5 %), crop rotation
(62.5 %), tree planting (60.7%) and rotational grazing (74.4%) were the most commonly
adopted land resource management practices by local community. Respondent farmers
identified some socio-economic conditions determining farmers’ decision making of land
resource management practices in the study catchment. It is concluded that local farmers
should get better training and extension service advice on the field and some incentives to
properly manage their plots and improve their livelihoods.