Integrated Watershed Management for Resource Conservation in the Maize-Based Farming System of Bako Area: A Case Study of the Fechea Sub-Watershed

Integrated watershed management (IWM) is a process of formulating and carrying out a series of actions to manage human activities in order to protect and rehabilitate natural resources and associated aquatic resources, while recognizing the benefits of orderly growth and development. This approach has multiple advantages: it allows concentration of efforts enhances community participation and allows systematic resource use and management. This project was initiated in the maize-based farming system of western Ethiopia with several objectives: establishing a shared understanding of IWM; delineating and mapping the watershed according to agro ecologies, farming systems and levels of land degradation; characterizing, identifying, prioritizing and analyzing biophysical and socioeconomic issues; and demonstrating different technologies and assessing opportunities for and constraints to the IWM approach as an intervention toward sustainable land use and food security. The project was designed with two aspects: the first involved survey and planning exercises and the second implementation. The first phase addressed 14 watershed issues that had been prioritized by the community: shortage of improved seed/crop varieties, feed shortage, deforestation, soil fertility decline, market fluctuations of grain prices, lack of quality drinking water, pests and plant diseases, soil and water loss due to excess runoff, lack of improved cross-breed livestock, lack of training/extension in different disciplines, insufficient veterinary services, shortage of water supply for livestock, lack of credit and shortage of labor. In the implementation phase, multidisciplinary professional teams worked collaboratively to address these watershed issues. Various soil and water conservation structures were constructed and vetiver grass was planted on ridges to control soil loss due to erosion, soil fertility decline and water quality and quantity decline due to sedimentation. Multipurpose agroforestry tree species such as Cordia africana, acacia albida (fertilizer tree) and Grevillea robusta were planted on different land-use locations to minimize the problem of deforestation, land degradation, soil loss and climate change. Different forage crops Lucaena palida, Dolichos lablab, Rhodes grass and elephant grass were experimented with in plots of 6x6 m to see whether they hold the solution to the shortage of livestock feed. Improved seed varieties of teff and haricot beans were distributed to farmers and also demonstrated on plots of 25x25 m and 10x10 m respectively to address the issue of shortage of improved seed varieties, which was the top-ranked issue in the watershed. Different horticultural crops were planted on farmers' lands to examine a shift from maize mono cropping to agrisilviculture; also, bee-keeping development was done to improve the livelihoods of farmers in the watershed. The problem of soil erosion is complex and needs the integration of different innovations, especially policy, socioeconomic and technological interventions; implementation of the land use policy is the best option, especially for communal grazing lands in the Fechea sub watershed, to minimize the competition and conflict related to open resource use. Some of the identified issues were not addressed due to resource limitations and the nature of those problems; they need great attention from different offices administering agriculture and water, especially the Cooperative Association Bureau and the Animal Health Bureau, to solve problems related to the lack of credit and veterinary services.