PERCETION OF LOCAL COMMUNITY TOWARD THE IMPACTS OF POPULATION PRESSURE ON AGRICULTURAL LAND: THE CASE OF TOCHA WOREDA IN DAWRO ZONE, SNNPR, ETHIOPIA

ABSTRACT Ethiopia is one of the Sub-Saharan African Countries known for their fast population growth and accelerated environmental degradation causing imbalance between population growth and the existing natural resources. In view of this situation the main objective of this study is to assess the perception of the local community toward the impacts of population pressure on agricultural land degradation with the case of Tocha woreda of Dawro zone, SNNPR. The investigator used mixed research approach (quantitative and qualitative) to achieve the perceptions of local community on the prevailing population pressures and their impacts on nearby resources. Both primary and secondary data were collected for this purpose. The primary data were collected from 93 sample households from three sample Kebeles in Tocha Woreda. Household survey, group discussions and key informant interviews were used to generate the primary data and Secondary data were gathered from governmental offices and other sources. Simple random sampling technique was used to select households involved in the study and Sample size was determined by rule of Yamane and 93 households were selected. Descriptive statistics such as frequency, mean, and percentage were used to describe the back ground information of the respondents and their perception on the impacts of population pressure on the agricultural land, crop and livestock production and their responses to mitigate the impacts of population pressure. The findings of the study show that 70(75.3%) of the sample of the population perceive population pressure as a cause for agricultural land degradation and decrease in agricultural production. Specifically, 34(36.6%) of the respondents replied that land fragmentation was a problem caused by the population pressure and 23(24.7%) of the total respondents replied that population pressure reduce in land for fallow. As result of agricultural land degradation 33(35.5%), of the respondents were perceived as decreased in crop production over time. In addition, 25(26.9%), 24(25.8), of respondents were perceived as to be lack of agricultural land due to population growth and soil fertility decline as result of land degradation were the main factors in decline in agricultural production. Household’s responses to mitigate the impacts of population pressure on agricultural land degradation and decrease in crop production encompasses, birth control, out migration, intensification of land using of agricultural inputs and use of soil and water conservation practices. On the basis of the study findings, it is recommended that advocacy work towards promoting limited family size, integrating agriculture with other income generating activities, improving provisions of modern input, to emphasis to the breeding of livestock, and environmental conservation should be strengthened in the study area.