COMMUNITY PERCEPTION AND SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION PRACTICE AT YILMANA DENSA WOREDA, WEST GOJJAM, ETHIOPIA

Abstract Soil and water conservation measures are applied to control runoff and thus preventing loss of soil by soil erosion, to conserve drain water, to harvest excess water, and to improve soil fertility.The study was conducted to assesscommunityperception and soil and water conservation practices at Yilmana Densa woreda in West Gojjam from Amhara region.A total of 94 households wereselectedrandomly from selected kebeles such as Adet zuria, Gadulla and Woneba kebeles. Primary data collection techniques wereused questioners, interviews, field observations,and secondarydata collection were used from written documents. Based on the data gathered, descriptive statistical tools like frequency and percentage were used. The result of this study revealed that,53% of the respondents have low participation, 32 % of the respondents have medium participation and the rest 15 % of the respondents have high participation forsoil and water conservation practicesfrom 94 total respondents. Majority of the respondents’ perceivedstone bund,fanya juu,drainage ditch were reduced farm size, difficult to implement, need too much labor, not easy to plough by oxen and increase the number of rodents on farm lands. From the total respondents, 66 respondents (70%) were practiced counter plough, 52 respondents (55%) were practiced soil bund, 38 respondents (40%) were practiced Fanya juu, 46 respondents (49%) were practiced cut off drains and 42 respondents (45%) were practiced stone bund soil and water conservation structures. Besides,84 respondents (89%) were used crop rotation, and36 respondents (38%) were used agroforestryin the study area. From key informant interview and field observation was understood that respondentspracticed soil and water conservationstructurestraditionally by their indigenous knowledge. There were poor SWC practiceas it can be seen the field observation. Therefore,the government and others stake holders should introduce SWC structures to the households.