scholarly journals Exploring Drivers of Livelihood Diversification and Its Effect on Adoption of Sustainable Land Management Practices in the Upper Blue Nile Basin, Ethiopia

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 2991 ◽  
Author(s):  
Misganaw Teshager Abeje ◽  
Atsushi Tsunekawa ◽  
Enyew Adgo ◽  
Nigussie Haregeweyn ◽  
Zerihun Nigussie ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Management ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Probit Model ◽  
Livestock Production ◽  
Livelihood Strategies ◽  
Livelihood Diversification ◽  
Sustainable Land Management ◽  
Extension Services ◽  
Household Level ◽  
Adoption Intensity

Land degradation poses a major threat to agricultural production and food security in Ethiopia, and sustainable land management (SLM) is key in dealing with its adverse impacts. This paper examines the covariates that shape rural livelihood diversification and examines their effects on the intensity of adoption of SLM practices. Household-level data were collected in 2017 from 270 households in three drought-prone watersheds located in northwestern Ethiopia. We used the Herfindahl–Simpson diversity index to explore the extent of livelihood diversification. A stochastic dominance ordering was also employed to identify remunerative livelihood activities. A multivariate probit model was employed to estimate the probability of choosing simultaneous livelihood strategies, and an ordered probit model was estimated to examine the effect of livelihood diversification on the adoption intensity of SLM practices. In addition to mixed cropping and livestock production, the production of emerging cash crops (e.g., Acacia decurrens for charcoal, and khat) dominated the overall income generation of the majority of farmers. Stress/shock experience, extent of agricultural intensification, and agro-ecology significantly affected the probability of choosing certain livelihood strategies. Livelihood diversification at the household level was significantly associated with the dependency ratio, market distance, credit access, extension services, membership in community organizations, level of income, and livestock ownership. A greater extent of livelihood diversification had a significant negative effect on adopting a greater number of SLM practices, whereas it had a positive effect on lower SLM adoption intensity. Overall, we found evidence that having greater livelihood diversification could prompt households not to adopt more SLM practices. Livelihood initiatives that focus on increasing shock resilience, access to financial support mechanisms, improving livestock production, and providing quality extension services, while also considering agro-ecological differences, are needed. In addition, development planners should take into account the livelihood portfolios of rural households when trying to implement SLM policies and programs.

scholarly journals Impacts of Socio-Psychological Factors on Actual Adoption of Sustainable Land Management Practices in Dryland and Water Stressed Areas

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 2963 ◽  
Author(s):  
Woldegebrial Zeweld ◽  
Guido Van Huylenbroeck ◽  
Girmay Tesfay ◽  
Hossein Azadi ◽  
Stijn Speelman
Keyword(s):  
Land Management ◽  
Psychological Factors ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Group Membership ◽  
Smallholder Farmers ◽  
Probit Model ◽  
Ordered Probit ◽  
Risk Attitudes ◽  
Relational Capital ◽  
Sustainable Land Management

Despite the presence of several studies on technology adoption, there are limited empirical studies on how socio-psychological factors affect the adoption of sustainable agriculture. Therefore, this paper investigates how socio-psychological factors-such as social capital, information, attitudes, efficacy, and aversion-affect smallholder farmers’ decisions to adopt sustainable land management practices, such as agroforestry systems, organic compost, and crop rotation with legumes. Cross-sectional data are collected from 350 randomly selected farm households using a pre-tested and structured questionnaire. A multivariate probit model is used to investigate factors that influence the probability of adopting these practices. The ordered probit model is also applied to identify and analyze the determinants of the number (intensity) of land management practices adopted. The findings indicate that nearly half of the farmers have adopted these land management practices to improve soil fertility, enhance water retention capacity, and increase productivity. It is also found that attitudes, information, education, group membership, relational capital, risk attitudes, and labor supply significantly affect the probability of adopting these agricultural practices. The estimates of the ordered probit model also indicate that extension services, risk attitudes, group membership, relational capital, education and labor supply are major determinants of the number of land management practices used. However, financial resources, biophysical factors and some demographic factors are found to have an insignificant effect on sustainable agriculture adoption. This implies that when it is necessary to promote sustainable land management practices and to stimulate smallholder farmers to adopt such practices in isolation or combination, specific strategies should be designed to improve awareness, build positive attitudes, reduce risk aversion, strengthen formal organizations, and empower endogenous groups (or informal institutions).

scholarly journals The Effect of Participation in Farmer Groups on Household Adoption of Sustainable Land Management Practices in Kenyan Drylands

2020 ◽  
pp. 66-80
Author(s):  
Rebecca N. Karaya ◽  
Christopher A. Onyango ◽  
George M. Ogendi
Keyword(s):  
Land Management ◽  
Land Degradation ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Positive Association ◽  
Sources Of Information ◽  
Sustainable Land Management ◽  
Extension Services ◽  
Group Members ◽  
Farmer Groups ◽  
Extension Agencies

Land degradation is a major cause of declining yields and loss of dryland ecosystems resilience in the Lake Baringo Basin in Kenya. One of the solutions to land degradation in drylands is the application of Sustainable Land Management (SLM) technologies. Improving farmers’ capacity to adopt SLM technologies has been an important strategy of the Kenyan government and her development partners to addressing land degradation. State agricultural extension services are charged with the role of building this capacity. Unfortunately, such extension services have had little impact in the Kenyan drylands. To counter this inadequacy in extension services, farmers have formed grass-root organisations to foster networks of support and information sharing. In this paper, we analysed the effect of participation in farmers organisation in promoting adoption of SLM practices by agropastoralists in the Lake Baringo Basin. Data were collected through in-depth household interviews with 150 farmers, 79 of them group members and 71 non-group members. Level of knowledge, sources of information and challenges of SLM adoption were studied. The study revealed significant and positive association between group participation and adoption of SLM practices at X2 (3, N=150=63.209, P=0.000). Additionally, group partnering with development agencies like Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and government departments was reported to have significant influence on household adoption of SLM practices at X2 (3, N=79=13.147, P=0.004). The results indicated that farmer groups can effectively be used to leverage farmers' adoption of SLM innovations and potentially improve household income and food security in the Kenyan drylands. We recommended organizational and resource capacity building for farmer groups to promote their effectiveness in provision of resources and services to their members. In addition, government research and extension agencies and academia should consider forming collaborations with farmer groups in generation of SLM technologies that are suited to the farmers location and prevailing context.

scholarly journals Sustainable Land Management Practices and Technical and Environmental Efficiency among Smallholder Farmers in Ghana

2019 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 96-116 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gazali Issahaku ◽  
Awudu Abdulai
Keyword(s):  
Land Management ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Smallholder Farmers ◽  
Environmental Efficiency ◽  
Sustainable Land Management ◽  
Stochastic Production Frontier ◽  
Access To Credit ◽  
Household Level ◽  
Environmental Consequences ◽  
Level Data

AbstractThe study examines the effects of adoption of sustainable land management practices on farm households’ technical efficiency (TE) and environmental efficiency, using household-level data from Ghana. We employ selectivity biased-corrected stochastic production frontier to account for potential bias from both observed and unobserved factors. The empirical results show that adopters exhibit higher levels of TE and output, compared with the nonadopters. However, the results reveal that adopters are found to use excess herbicides that could have adverse environmental consequences. The results also reveal that extension services and access to credit positively and significantly correlate with TE.

scholarly journals Effects of land use and sustainable land management practices on runoff and soil loss in the Upper Blue Nile basin, Ethiopia

2019 ◽  
Vol 648 ◽  
pp. 1462-1475 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kindiye Ebabu ◽  
Atsushi Tsunekawa ◽  
Nigussie Haregeweyn ◽  
Enyew Adgo ◽  
Derege Tsegaye Meshesha ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Land Management ◽  
Soil Loss ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Sustainable Land Management ◽  
Nile Basin ◽  
Blue Nile ◽  
Blue Nile Basin ◽  
Runoff And Soil Loss ◽  
Effects Of Land Use

Insights on the relationship between total grazing pressure management and sustainable land management: key indicators to verify impacts

2019 ◽  
Vol 41 (6) ◽  
pp. 535 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. M. Waters ◽  
S. E. McDonald ◽  
J. Reseigh ◽  
R. Grant ◽  
D. G. Burnside
Keyword(s):  
Land Management ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Temporal Trends ◽  
Grazing Intensity ◽  
Grazing Pressure ◽  
Environmental Stewardship ◽  
Grazing Management ◽  
Sustainable Land Management ◽  
Key Indicators ◽  
The Impact

Demonstrating sustainable land management (SLM) requires an understanding of the linkages between grazing management and environmental stewardship. Grazing management practices that incorporate strategic periods of rest are promoted internationally as best practice. However, spatial and temporal trends in unmanaged feral (goat) and native (kangaroo) populations in the southern Australian rangelands can result land managers having, at times, control over less than half the grazing pressure, precluding the ability to rest pastures. Few empirical studies have examined the impacts of total grazing pressure (TGP) on biodiversity and resource condition, while the inability to manage grazing intensity at critical times may result in negative impacts on ground cover, changes in pasture species composition, increased rates of soil loss and reduce the ability for soils to store carbon. The widespread adoption of TGP control through exclusion fencing in the southern Australian rangelands has created unprecedented opportunities to manage total grazing pressure, although there is little direct evidence that this infrastructure leads to more sustainable land management. Here we identify several key indicators that are either outcome- or activity-based that could serve as a basis for verification of the impacts of TGP management. Since TGP is the basic determinant of the impact of herbivory on vegetation it follows that the ability for rangeland pastoral management to demonstrate SLM and environmental stewardship will rely on using evidence-based indicators to support environmental social licence to operate.

scholarly journals Good Governance: A Framework for Implementing Sustainable Land Management, Applied to an Agricultural Case in Northeast-Brazil

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (16) ◽  
pp. 4303
Author(s):  
Verena Rodorff ◽  
Marianna Siegmund-Schultze ◽  
Maike Guschal ◽  
Sonja Hölzl ◽  
Johann Köppel
Keyword(s):  
Pest Control ◽  
Land Management ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
Northeast Brazil ◽  
Sustainable Land Management ◽  
Governance System ◽  
Advisory Program ◽  
Biological Pest Control ◽  
Guiding Questions

Land management needs to cope with persistent environmental and societal changes. This requires functional governance systems. The purpose of this research is to develop a good governance framework for the implementation of sustainable land management. Good governance theory is extensive, although its operationalization remains difficult. We derived a set of good governance attributes from the literature: (i) the functionality of the regulatory framework, (ii) the legitimacy and accountability of the actors, (iii) the fairness and transparency of the decision-making processes, and (iv) quality control and adaptiveness. These constitute a framework which, supported by guiding questions, facilitates the evaluation of governance attributes to assess sustainable land management practices. We applied the scheme to a case study in Northeast Brazil regarding sustainable land management where biological pest control is considered to be a biodiversity-related ecosystem service. Since its adoption often falls short of expectations, we scrutinized its governance system. First, experts answered our guiding questions, and second, we involved local stakeholders in the discussion of good governance attributes through the participatory approach of constellation analysis. Trust in agricultural consultants and issues of the practical application of pest control turned out to be crucial. The workshop participants requested a model farm to build more trust and experience. There was considerable demand for policy at the national planning level to formulate and monitor the content of the agricultural advisory program. Our conceptualized framework of good governance questions provides systematization for planning and steering the implementation of sustainable land management practices.

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