Landowners’ Outlook Towards Soil Erosion Problem and Conservation Strategies in Maksegnit Province, Ethiopia

Soil erosion is an imperative environmental deterioration almost all over the world, which leads to reduction of crop yield. Present study investigates farmers' views of soil erosion problems and their conservation measures in the Gummara-Maksegnit watershed to understand inter-relationships between perception of farmers' knowledge and soil conservation practices. Data was obtained from a survey of 332 farm households and informal discussions selected by stratified random sampling from upper, middle and lower catchment at Fertamit, Enkri and Dilkana districts respectively. Both open ended and close ended questionnaires were employed to acquire required data. The result revealed that 81% of the local people realize the occurrence of soil erosion in their farm land. Moreover, 67% of the population recognizes the formation of rill forms of soil erosion on their farm land. 45% of the communities perceive soil erosion as primary factor for productivity reduction while 48% of them consider as second cause. Finally, there are several soil conservation measures done by the society living in the watershed. 84% of the population constructed stone bund on their farm land to control soil erosion. Other soil conservation measures like soil bund, draining ditch, tree planting and contour plowing were practiced. The varieties of conservation measures were very limited and incapable to control erosion forms like gully. Therefore it is highly recommended to teach farmers concerning different soil and water conservation measures and its relevance for tackling soil erosion