Land Use Dynamics in the Planosol Belt of the Gilgel Gibe Catchment, South-West Ethiopia
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Faculty of Bioscience Engineering Academic year 2012 – 2013 Land use dynamics in the Planosol belt of the Gilgel Gibe catchment, South-West Ethiopia Kewan Mertens Promotor: Prof. dr. ir. Ann Verdoodt, Prof. dr. Eric Van Ranst Thesis submitted in the fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master (Msc) in Bioscience Engineering: Land and Water Management 2 Acknowledgements First of all, I would like to thank my promoters Prof. dr. ir. Ann Verdoodt and Prof. dr. Eric Van Ranst for their guidance, support and suggestions. Without their help, this thesis and all the new experiences and lessons that have gone with it wouldn’t have been possible. My gratitude also goes to Alemayehu Regassa, who helped me with all practical aspects related to the fieldwork. Without his help it would have been much more difficult to collect the necessary information. I also owe Veerle Vandenhende, Nicole Vindevogel and Maarten Volckaert gratitude for their help, practical advice and patience in the laboratory. I’m also grateful to the VLIR-UOS for the grant that has allowed me to participate in the Soil Fertility Project. I would like to thank the project coordinator in Jimma, Boka Asefa, for his efforts to arrange cars and for his recommendation letter for the ILRI in Addis Ababa. I would also like to thank Sarah Van der Aa for her love, patience and support. I Table of Contents Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................................... I Table of Contents ........................................................................................................................... III List of Figures ................................................................................................................................ VII List of tables ..................................................................................................................................... IX Summary ........................................................................................................................................... XI Samenvatting ................................................................................................................................. XII 1. Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 1 1.1. Background and research significance .................................................................................. 1 1.2. Research objectives ....................................................................................................................... 2 2. Literature review .................................................................................................................... 3 2.1. Land use dynamics ......................................................................................................................... 3 2.1.1. Concept and objectives ......................................................................................................................... 3 2.1.2. Different scales, purposes and approaches ................................................................................. 3 2.1.3. Land use dynamics in Ethiopia ......................................................................................................... 6 2.2. Classification, properties and use of Planosols ................................................................... 8 2.2.1. Characterization and classification ................................................................................................. 8 2.2.2. Position in the landscape, properties and use ............................................................................ 9 2.2.3. Properties and use of the Planosols in the Gilgel Gibe catchment .................................. 10 2.3. Vertisols: classification, distribution and use.................................................................... 11 2.4. Guie: a traditional soil management technique ................................................................ 12 2.4.1. Technical aspects ................................................................................................................................. 12 2.4.2. Distribution ............................................................................................................................................ 13 2.4.3. Impact on soil and crop ..................................................................................................................... 14 2.5. Eucalyptus production in Ethiopia ........................................................................................ 15 2.5.1. Role of eucalyptus in Ethiopian land use ................................................................................... 15 2.5.2. Requirements and growth of eucalyptus ................................................................................... 16 2.5.3. Impacts and benefits in the Ethiopian highlands ................................................................... 16 2.6. Rice: a potential land use in Ethiopia .................................................................................... 18 2.6.1. The role of rice in Ethiopian land use ......................................................................................... 18 2.6.2. Climatic requirements ....................................................................................................................... 18 III 2.6.3. Soil requirements ................................................................................................................................ 18 2.6.4. Management problems ...................................................................................................................... 19 3. Materials and methods ........................................................................................................ 21 3.1. Description of the study area ................................................................................................... 21 3.1.1. Location, geology and topography ............................................................................................... 21 3.1.2. Climate ..................................................................................................................................................... 22 3.1.3. Land use ................................................................................................................................................... 23 3.1.4. Population statistics and land tenure policy ............................................................................ 24 3.2. Qualitative assessment of land use dynamics.................................................................... 25 3.2.1. Objectives and methodology ........................................................................................................... 25 3.2.2. Transect walks ...................................................................................................................................... 25 3.2.3. Interviews ............................................................................................................................................... 26 3.2.4. Comparison of Google Earth images ............................................................................................ 27 3.3. Physico-chemical soil quality assessment .......................................................................... 27 3.3.1. Soil sampling strategy ........................................................................................................................ 27 3.3.2. Soil chemical analyses ....................................................................................................................... 30 3.3.3. Soil physical analyses ......................................................................................................................... 31 3.3.4. Soil micromorphological analysis ................................................................................................. 32 3.3.5. Soil quality assessment ..................................................................................................................... 33 3.4. Suitability assessment of land uses and management practices ................................ 33 3.4.1. Analysis of climatic data ................................................................................................................... 33 3.4.2. The guie practice for eucalyptus seedbed preparation ....................................................... 34 3.4.3. The potential for rice cultivation after soil excavation ........................................................ 35 3.5. Overview of the land use dynamics with the DPSIR framework ................................. 35 4. Results ....................................................................................................................................... 37 4.1. Current land uses ......................................................................................................................... 37 4.1.1. Grazing and crop production .......................................................................................................... 38 4.1.2. Seedbed preparation and plot design for eucalyptus ........................................................... 39 4.1.3. Brick making: impact on the soil and crop yields .................................................................