Assessing the role of soil and water conservation practices towards rural livelihood; the case of Wonago Woreda, Gede'o Zone, Southern Ethiopia

ABSTRACT The purposes of this study were to assess the role of soil and water conservation practices towards rural livelihood in Wonago Woreda, Gede’o zone, SNNPR state. Soil and water conservation measures predominantly applied for the control runoff and thus prevent loss of soil by erosion, to reduce soil compaction, to maintain or to improve soil fertility, to conserve or drain water and to harvest water. Soil and water conservation brings significant results on rural livelihoods and strongly recommended. The thesis was carried out in some selected kebele of Gedeo zone in Wonago Woreda. The data were collected from a survey of three kebeles rural households from February 2020 to March 2020. Simple random and purposive sampling technique was employed to select respondents incorporating household’s survey questionnaires; focus group discussion and key informants interviews. The questionnaire was designed in the form of structured and semi-structured and was distributed to the selected samples, and the interview was prepared in the form of semi structured interview. After collecting the data through questionnaire, FGD, conducting interview and observation descriptive (qualitatively) statistics in the form narration and empirically (quantitatively) data was analyzed using simple statistical tools such as frequencies and percentages. The eight SWC measures are practiced in the study area. Soil bund and stone bund mostly constructed by 30.3% and 17.8% of the respondents respectively. Soil bund, stone bund, Trench and Micro basin were the most commonly practiced SWC measures in the study area. Majority of respondents use eight identified SWC measures and it access to livelihood assets found in the study area. The relationship between the number of SWC practices and factors impress this SWC measure as well as an access to the livelihood assets were analyzed with the aid of the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software. The finding results shows that increase soil fertility, minimizing soil erosion, plantation of forests was the benefits of SWC measure for the study area. Soil and water conservation practices are perceived and valued as positive by all farmers regardless of livelihood differences. The study concluded that most of the participants were willing to maintain soil as a valuable resource and apply SWC practices for maximizing their benefits, but expressed the need for the continuing support of the implementation. Finally, based on the findings, conclusion and recommendation were forwarded to be use by any interested body who works to alleviate the problem.