Factors affecting the implementation of sustainable land management practices in the northwestern Ethiopian highlands

Land degradation threatens food security in developing countries, yet smallholder farmers’ adoption of sustainable land management practices (SLMPs) remains low. Thus, this study examined the key factors influencing farmers’ adoption and selection of SLMPs. The main objective of this study was to identify the factors that influence the implementation of sustainable land management practices and the choice of practices. Both primary and secondary data sources were used and a detailed survey data were collected from 310 randomly sampled households in two rural Kebeles in the study area. Both descriptive analysis and econometric models were used to analyze the data. The descriptive analysis results indicated that approximately 149 (48.06%) households were adopters of SLMP practices, and the remaining 161 (51.94%) households were non-adopters. A binary logit regression model revealed that the education level, the total number of livestock owned, farmland plot ownership, total farmland size, and farmers' perception on their farm plot slope were significant determinants of the SLMP adoption. The multivariate probit model (MVP) results indicate that the probability of choosing agronomic SLMPs (81.8%) is much higher than the probability of selecting biological SLMPs (55.2%), physical SLMPs (33.1%), and mixed or more than one SLMP (42.6%). Also the joint probabilities of success (15.15%) or failure (5.65%) of choosing the four SLMPs shows households were more likely to succeed in jointly choosing the four SLMPs. The finding showed that age, education level, access to extension service, off-farm activities, family size, livestock ownership, plot ownership, access to credit and perception of farmers on the slope of the plot and soil fertility significantly affects SLMP choice at different levels of significance. Therefore, the study concluded that there is a need to focus on smallholder farmers' demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, and plot-related significant variables to address the problem of SLM practices.