ECONOMIC VALUATION OF OFF-SITE SOIL CONSERVATION PRACTICES IN WADERA DISTRICT OF GUJI ZONE, OROMIA REGIONAL STATE, ETHIOPIA

Soil erosion is one of the most serious environmental problems in the highlands of Ethiopia. The prevalence of traditional agricultural land use and inappropriate resource management often result in the degradation of natural forests and soil fertility in the country. In order to design a useful plan of action it is necessary to understand local peoples’ response to soil conservation plans. Therefore, the major concern of this study is to identify economic valuation of off-site soil conservation practices in Wadera district of Guji Zone,Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia. Data were collected through a DB CVM survey conducted on 100 randomly selected rural households to elicit preferences for controlling the off-site effects of soil erosion. Data were analyzed using both descriptive and econometrics tools. Using a Recursive Probit model, we have estimated the mean WTP and identified the determinant factors. The result indicates that controlling the off-site effects of soil erosion offers a welfare gain of 21.52 ETB. Bid value, age, level of education, farm size, livestock holding and perception are the significant factors affecting WTP. Bid value and farm size affects negatively, while age, level of education, livestock holding and perception affects positively. The estimated values are indicative of the WTP potentials of the local community and hence designing a bottom-up approach of intervention might work better. In line with this the study considers the possibilities of implementing a market based mechanism of payment for environmental services (PES).