Catena 86 (2011) 1–13 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Catena journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/catena A participatory soil quality assessment in Northern Ethiopia's Mai-Negus catchment Gebreyesus Brhane Tesfahunegn a,b,⁎,1, Lulseged Tamene c, Paul L.G. Vlek a a Center for Development Research (ZEF), University of Bonn, Walter-Flex-Str. 3, 53113 Bonn, Germany b Aksum University, Faculty of Agriculture and Rural Development, P.O. Box 287, Aksum, Ethiopia c International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), Chitedze Agricultural Research, Station, P.O. Box 158, Lilongwe, Malawi article info abstract Article history: Local communities often have substantial knowledge related to trends in soil quality and the associated Received 6 October 2010 limiting factors. Despite this, soil quality (SQ) degradation is a critical problem in Ethiopia and there is little or Received in revised form 19 January 2011 insufficient scientific information documenting local community experience in assessing SQ. This paper Accepted 20 January 2011 presents experiences of local communities in diagnosis of SQ and assesses the contribution of local knowledge as a strategy for sustainable development decision making within the Mai-Negus catchment of northern Keywords: Ethiopia. Participatory transect-walks, group discussions and field observation which complemented by Soil quality fi Soil quality indicators household interview were used to acquire data. Farmers identi ed SQ indicators e.g., crop yield, soil depth, Soil quality categories erosion and sedimentation as their basis of categorizing the soils into high, medium and low SQ. They were Participatory survey also able to identify severely degraded areas (hotspots) and underlying causes. Significant variations Mai-Negus catchment (P≤0.05) were shown between the proportions of farmers used certain SQ indicator and those who didn't Northern Ethiopia while categorizing SQ. Local farmers involved in this study demonstrated their capability to suggest appropriate land management solutions for specific problems. This study demonstrates the benefitof involving local farmers in both problem identification and solution development so that anti-degradation technologies can easily be implemented and adopted. © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction demonstrated that investments in rehabilitating degraded landscapes in tropical regions do payoff in economic terms (Boyd and Turton, Agriculture is the mainstay of Ethiopia, providing the major source 2000; Holden et al., 2005), the overall productivity of many areas in of employment and income. About 85% of the population living in the the country is often perceived to be so dramatically damaged by country are primarily engaged in agriculture or related activities human impact that recovery is deemed impossible (Dai Trung et al., (Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia Population Census Com- 2007). Regardless of this, there has been a great deal of effort to mission, FDREPCC, 2008). Thus, agriculture directly or indirectly forms address soil degradation problems in Ethiopia, though success in an important component of the livelihoods for more than 70 million reversing land degradation is minimal. Part of the reason for a lack of people in the country. However, changing environmental factors have success is that the introduced practices and technologies were not led to soil quality degradation which poses a critical risk for well suited to the conditions local farmers face and local communities agricultural productivity and food security (Bekele and Holden, were often not involved in the technology selection processes 1999; Krowntree and Fox, 2008). Soil quality is most often defined (Kebrom, 1999; Badege, 2001). as “the capacity of the soil to function” (Karlen et al., 1997, 2001), An active involvement of communities under consideration is vital although a variety of definitions exist in the current literature. for successful implementation of introduced land management Soil quality degradation is often associated with interactions practices. Participation of local communities in evaluating SQ, its among land use, soil management and local knowledge regarding determining factors and possible management options are crucial, not agricultural production with inherent soil forming and erosion factors only for the measures to be accepted and implemented, but also to (Karlen et al., 2001). Deforestation and accelerated soil erosion sustain those practices. Local knowledge also benefits our scientific causing soil quality degradation are serious problems in Ethiopia understanding of the entire land management and decision-making (Badege, 2001). Even though several impact assessment studies have processes (Sillitoe, 2000; Barrera-Bassols et al., 2008). Worldwide, traditional rural societies still encompass the majority of small farmers, and the use of conventional soil survey information ⁎ Corresponding author at: Center for Development Research (ZEF), University of frequently fails because it does not take into account or under- Bonn, Walter-Flex-Str. 3, D-53113 Bonn, Germany. Tel.: +49 15 225 262 887; fax: +49 estimates the importance of local knowledge (Osunade, 1994; 228 73 5097. E-mail address: [email protected] (G.B. Tesfahunegn). WinklerPrins, 1999; Sillitoe, 2000; WinklerPrins and Sandor, 2003; 1 Tel.: +251 34 775 3549; fax: +251 34 775 1931. Barrera-Bassols et al., 2008). Local cultures and people have 0341-8162/$ – see front matter © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.catena.2011.01.013 2 G.B. Tesfahunegn et al. / Catena 86 (2011) 1–13 substantial knowledge about soils and environments, attained by regarding SQ in the country, this study was designed to explore the experience through many generations of living close to the land. The experiences of local communities in diagnosis of SQ and to assess the environmental knowledge embedded in local communities provides a contribution of local knowledge as potential indicators for sustainable long-term perspective on land use and management (Romig et al., development decision making. The goal was to enhance our 1995; WinklerPrins, 1999; Barrios et al., 2000). The long-term understanding of both the determining factors causing land degrada- experience of local communities with natural resource use and tion at the local level and benefits of local participation in problem management, including successes and failures, can help in evaluating identification and solution prescription. If successful, the experience land use in relation to soil quality and sustainable agriculture through could also help re-design strategies, investment programs and participatory approach. projects that enhance SQ and thereby food security not only in the Participatory processes are useful for providing persons with study area but also throughout the Ethiopian highlands. different backgrounds opportunities to engage in an interactive dialogue, communicate their perspectives, and develop shared 2. Methodology abilities for discourse and reflection (Röling, 2002; Barrios and Trejo, 2003). There is also an increasing awareness and acceptance 2.1. Study area that information obtained from people at the local or “grassroots” level can both provide feedback on and enrich decisions made at even This study was conducted in Mai-Negus catchment in the Tigray the national or international level (Kasemir et al., 2003). Persons at region (12°00′–15°00′ N latitude and 36°30′–41°30′ E longitude) of the local level are usually those most affected by the issue at stake and northern Ethiopia (Fig. 1). The catchment has an area of 1240 ha with are often the greatest experts on many aspects affecting their own a rugged terrain and altitude ranging from 2060 to 2650 m above sea situation. Participation is thus for the most part, valued as a means to level. Land use is predominantly arable with teff (Eragrostis tef) being enable and enhance democracy (Mostert, 2003a,b), create empower- the major crop along with different proportions of pasture and ment, and a practical means for putting decisions into effect (Stave, scattered patches of trees, bush and shrubs. The major rock types are 2002). lava pyroclastic and meta-volcanic. Soils are dominantly leptosols on Despite the aforementioned importance, previous SQ studies using the very steep positions, cambisols on middle to steep slopes and participatory local communities are lacking in Ethiopia. Taking into vertisols on the flat areas. Soils are highly eroded in most landscape account such benefits of participatory research and information gaps positions and the overall terrain erosivity potential is high because the 260000 340000 420000 500000 580000 N 461000 462000 463000 464000 465000 (C) Mai-Negus catchment N. western zone Eastern Western zone zone Central zone 1500000 1550000 1600000 1650000 0120.5 Southern 1450000 1450000 zone Kilometers Mekelle 1400000 1400000(B) 1500000 1550000 1600000 1650000 Tigray N 15 TigrayTigray N 13 1560700 1561600 1562500 1563400 1564300 1560700 1561600 1562500461000 1563400 1564300 462000 463000 464000 465000 11 11 13 15 (A)Ethiopia 00.4 0.8 1.6 9 9 Kilometers Projection: UTM 8 8 Zone: 37N Datum: Adindan Spheroid: Clarke 1880 6 6 4 4 33 36 38 41 44 47 Fig. 1. Location of Mai-Negus catchments in Tigray, Northern Ethiopia. The blue color shaded area is the reservoir in the study catchment. G.B. Tesfahunegn et al. / Catena 86 (2011) 1–13 3 slope gradient often reaches 80% or more. Surface cover is also poor across the landscape) were explained