Effects of Area Exclosure on Soil Properties and Farmers’ Awareness Towards the Practice in Wera Sub-Watershed at Analemo Woreda, Southern Ethiopia
[1]
Solomon Umer, Department of Natural Resource Management, Werabe University, Werabe, Ethiopia.
[2]
Tamrat Sinore, Department of Natural Resource Management, Wachemo University, Hossana, Ethiopia.
Land degradation is one of the major challenges in agricultural production in Ethiopia specifically in Analemo Woreda. Therefore to reduce land degradation problems in the Wera-sub watershed area exclosure was implemented through community mobilization. The aim of this study was to evaluate the contribution of area exclosure for soil properties improvement and awareness of community on the practices. To do this, six year old area exclosure with 30hectare and 20 hectare of grazing land was considered as a control. Composite soil samples were taken randomly from area exclosure and free grazing land in similar landscape position to assess soil organic matter, cation exchange capacity, total nitrogen, available phosphorous, pH, electrical conductivity, texture and bulk density. On the other hand, 127 households randomly selected for the interview on the area enclosure and a focus group discussion was used. Soil laboratory analysis result revealed that the exclosure had significantly (p <0.05) higher levels for OM, CEC, TN and pH compared to free grazing land. However, there was no statistically significant difference on the available phosphorous, and EC values between the two land uses. Regarding the soil physical properties, the enclosure area showed higher values of clay (%) while free grazing land showed higher values of sand (%) and bulk density than the exclosure area. This was probably due to the higher compaction effect of the grazing in the grazing land than the enclosure area. Socioeconomic survey result showed that the majority of the local farmers have a positive attitude towards enclosure and feel that they have gained benefits from it, especially in terms of fodder availability for their livestock. The chemical and physical soil properties in the enclosure are improving because of the establishment of the enclosure. The grazing land adjacent to the enclosure area is being degraded due to loss of top soil by erosion, and the degradation extent would be higher and reversing the process would become difficult. Therefore, the concerning body must take the immediate intervention measures.
Area Exclosure, Farmers’ Awareness, Free Grazing, Soil Properties, Wera-Watershed
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