An investigation of the physical and socioeconomic determinants of soil erosion in the Hararghe Highlands, eastern Ethiopia

The vicious poverty–environmental spiral commonly exists due to the interconnectedness of the socioeconomic aspects of farmers and land degradation. The socioeconomic situation of farmers affects their capabilities to implement environmentally viable soil and water conservation measures. These situations include farm practices and attitudes toward rational use of resources. An observational study was conducted to have an insight of the perception of farmers about the danger of gully erosion and their willingness to adopt new improved soil and water conservation measures. The variables studied included literacy, location of farm within the landscape, major land use, the severity of water scarcity, means of traction, perception, type of soil and water conservation measure in use, willingness to adopt new soil and water conservation measures and type of incentives needed for adopting new soil and water conservation measures. The variables studied were coded using dummy variable coding techniques and were subjected to rigorous statistical analysis using canonical correlation, logistic regression and discriminant analysis. Results suggest that perception about the danger of gully erosion is significantly correlated to severity of water scarcity, location of farm within the landscape and literacy of farmers. Willingness to adopt a new or improved soil and water conservation measure is strongly related to fertilizer availability as an incentive and to the literacy of the farmers. It is concluded that under Hararghe Highland conditions, design and implementation of soil and water conservation measures should take into account farmers' priorities such as alleviation of the water scarcity problem. Moreover, successful implementation of an improved or new measure of soil and water conservation measure is contingent upon the availability of incentives, primarily fertilizers.