Agriculture In Ethiopia Case Study

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1 INTRODUCTION Ethiopia is not only a country dominated by agriculture; it is a country of smallholder farmers. The livelihood decisions of this predominant farming community are largely constrained by diminishing land availability, declining soil productivity, the marginaliza-tion of time-tested crops, poor access to technology and the volatility of agricultural mar-kets (Fenta and Ali 2003). In a society so reliant for survival on agricultural land with few other livelihood options, these constraints are more pronounced. The more the available land becomes small and the changes in climate, the more complicated it becomes for farmers to maintain their customary diversified cropping regime. Under such conditions, farmers forced to prioritize crops and intensify management to optimize benefits (Rahmato 2009). Often, crops with a high cash return take centre stage and farmers be-come reliant on the cash to access food despite of the land suitability to the crop. Chat (Catha edulis Forsk) is just such a crop in this study area of…show more content…
With the increase in population, as well as human activities, has intensified the pressure on land and the changing climate. Farming activities in the watersheds without proper management practices, such as the replen-ishment of nutrients using organic matter applications, rainwater harvesting, measures to reduce soil losses due to soil erosion, etc. lead to degradation of farmlands (Hailu Beyene, 2008). In rain‐fed agricultural production systems, natural resources need to be used in such a manner that the productivity potential of the watershed is optimized. The sustained land use planning, therefore, involves the decision of land use so that available resources put into use according to the assessed

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