Evaluation of adoption behavior of soil and water conservation practices in the Simein Mountain National Park, Highlands of Ethiopia

Abstract

This study examines the farmers’ adoption behavior of soil and water conservation (SWC) technologies in Semein Mountain National Park. A simple random sampling method was employed to select the sample households. A total of 150 household farmers were selected from 12 kebeles based on the farmers’ proximity to the park. This study identified existing SWC practices, constraints and opportunities with the view of improving and upscaling appropriate soil and water conservation technologies. The results also show that even though the involvement of farmers was very limited in participation by consultation to implement the SWC technologies, majority of the farmers acknowledged that the introduced conservation technologies were effective measures to control soil erosion and for improvement of productivity. The sustainable adoption of SWC measures seems unlikely due to labor intensiveness and unfitness with the farmers’ farming systems and land tenure insecurity. These problems are associated with the inactive involvement of farmers in the conservation activities. Therefore, this study suggests that adoption of SWC interventions should be designed based on the active involvement of the local farmers for future soil and water conservation activities. Finally, we conclude that policy program which is intended at shifting of the people from the park to other areas for the sustainability of the park as well as the farmers’ livelihood improvement is a sustainable solution.

Keywords

• erosion
• soil and water conservation
• semein mountain national parks
• adoption
• policy intervention