UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG Department of Earth Sciences Geovetarcentrum/Earth Science Centre The impact of natural conditions on farmers´ livelihood situations - on the slope of Mount Wenchi, in rural Ethiopia Erika Hultman Rickard Näsström ISSN 1400-3821 B642 Bachelor of Science thesis Göteborg 2012 Mailing address Address Telephone Telefax Geovetarcentrum Geovetarcentrum Geovetarcentrum 031-786 19 56 031-786 19 86 Göteborg University S 405 30 Göteborg Guldhedsgatan 5A S-405 30 Göteborg SWEDEN ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This bachelor paper in geography is based on research that we did as part of the Minor Field Study program, sponsored by the swedish aid organisation Sida. It was conducted in Ethiopia during two months in the spring of 2010. We would like to thank Staffan Rosell for giving us the idea from the start and for all the encouragement and valuable inputs during this project; Mats Olvmo for guidance, help and tutorial; Abdi Girma for spotless interpreting and helpful assistance during our field work; Lars Johansson for interesting conversations and help with GIS; Gustaf Asplund for letting us stay in his house in Addis Ababa; Sofia Thorsson and Eskil Mattson for believing in our project idea; Jessica Lindquist, Martin Madar Johansson and Robert Ekberg for keeping our spirit up with a pleasant working atmosphere. ii ABSTRACT This paper is about farmers in three villages on the slope of Mount Wenchi in rural Ethiopia, and their struggle for retaining and improving their livelihood situations by being affected by, and in its turn affecting, the nature in which they live. Our study analyzes the impact of natural conditions and other livelihood aspects on farmers’ livelihood situation, with focus on natural capital. Some of the methods we have been working with are interviews, both semi-structured and focus group interviews, field mapping with a GPS, soil sampling and we also developed our own livelihood classification system. The three villages are all at different altitude and there are dissimilarities in the possibilities for ones livelihood situation caused by the varying natural conditions. In the village at the lowest altitude they have flat land, irrigation, large land areas, better soil than the other villages; and in the village at the highest altitude they are subjected to erosion, have sloping and small land areas and unproductive soils. These differences reflect and explain the dissimilarities between the villages; the possibilities for a good livelihood situation decreases as the altitude increases on the slope of Mount Wenchi. The most significant differences are concerning topography, water accessibility, land areas and soil physical properties. Our study further indicates that for poorer households, dependant on rain fed agriculture, enset plays a more important role than it does for richer households. But it is clear that enset is a security for farmers in Wenchi Woreda, it guarantees food when the cereal crop harvests fail, and even rich farmers grow it close to their homestead. Key words: natural conditions, livelihood, natural capital, Ethiopia, agriculture, soils. iii TABLE OF CONTENT INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................................................... 1 1. Purpose of the study ....................................................................................................................................... 1 2. Definition of key terms ................................................................................................................................... 2 3. Livelihood, soils and land use ......................................................................................................................... 2 4. Setting of the study area................................................................................................................................. 4 4.1 Ethiopia..................................................................................................................................................... 4 4.2 Climate ..................................................................................................................................................... 6 4.3 The agro climatic zones ............................................................................................................................ 7 4.4 The livelihood zones according to USAID ................................................................................................. 7 4.5 Livestock ................................................................................................................................................... 9 4.6 The Woliso- Mt Wenchi area .................................................................................................................... 9 5. Factors influencing soils ................................................................................................................................ 10 5.1 Climate ................................................................................................................................................... 10 5.2 Topography ............................................................................................................................................ 11 5.3 Organisms and vegetation ...................................................................................................................... 11 5.4 Soil physical factor .................................................................................................................................. 12 5.5 Soil Degradation ..................................................................................................................................... 13 5.6 Erosion control ....................................................................................................................................... 14 5.7 Fertilizers ................................................................................................................................................ 15 METHODS .............................................................................................................................................................. 16 1. Literature review .......................................................................................................................................... 16 2. Climate data .................................................................................................................................................. 16 3. Field methods ............................................................................................................................................... 16 4. Selection of villages ...................................................................................................................................... 16 5. Observation methods ................................................................................................................................... 16 6. Interview methods ........................................................................................................................................ 17 7. Soil sampling ................................................................................................................................................. 17 8. GIS ................................................................................................................................................................. 18 9. Livelihood classification system .................................................................................................................... 18 RESULT .................................................................................................................................................................. 21 1. Specific location settings .............................................................................................................................. 21 1.1 Waldo Xalfam Kebele, Adera Gotti ......................................................................................................... 22 iv 1.2 Fite Wato Kebele, Chorro Gotti .............................................................................................................. 23 1.3 Mete Walga Kebele, Yaya Gotti .............................................................................................................. 24 2. Season calendars .......................................................................................................................................... 25 3. Precipitation and temperature ..................................................................................................................... 25 4. Interviews ..................................................................................................................................................... 27 4.1 The soil ................................................................................................................................................... 27 4.2 Fertilizers ................................................................................................................................................ 27 4.3 Categories of the land ............................................................................................................................ 28 4.4 Crop diversity ........................................................................................................................................