Shiene, SD

Tamene, Lulseged

Vlek, Paul L.G.

Tamene, Lulseged D.

CGSpace

Tropentag, September 19-21, 2012, Göttingen -Kassel/Witzenhausen“Resilience of agricultural systems against crises”Performance of Farmland Terraces in Maintaining CropProductivity in Wello, Northern Highlands of EthiopiaShimeles Damene Shiene1, Paul L. G. Vlek1, Lulseged Tamene Desta21University of Bonn, Center for Development Research (ZEF), Germany2International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), Trop. Soil Biology and Fertility (TSBF), MalawiAbstractSoil-erosion-induced land degradation and crop production loss is a great challenge inthe Ethiopian highlands. Consequently, the government has invested in soil and waterconservation (SWC) measures where farmland terracing is among the widely implementedpractices. The purpose of this study was to analyse the performance of terracing withrespect to crop productivity. Yield differences across the slope of the terrain, within aterrace and across terrace age were evaluated. The study was conducted in the Maybarsoil conservation research site (MSCRS) in Wello, northern Ethiopia. It is located between10◦58’ and 11◦02’ N latitude and 39◦38’ and 39◦40’ E longitude. Yield data (grain andbiomass) of seven crops such as wheat (Triticum spp), emmer wheat (Triticum spp), horsebean (Vicia faba), field pea (Pisum sativum), barley (Hordeum spp), maize (Zea mays) andteff (Eragrostis tef ) collected between 1995 and 2009 from 40 fixed plots on three terracepositions (upper, middle and lower) were statistically analysed using a mixed linear modelthat employed Tukey-Kramer adjustment in SAS (Version 9.2). Generally, yields of allcrops except wheat decreased significantly (on average 0.37 to 0.15 t ha−1) from the upperterrace position towards the lower position. Unlike in other studies, the differences couldbe due to the soil depth gradient that in turn influenced nutrient and soil-water storage.On the other hand, yields showed insignificant differences across the terrain, they showed adecreasing tendency with slope increase. This indicates that terracing reduced soil erosionand nutrient translocation. With terrace age, yields showed only slight changes. The stableyield under limited fertility improvement measures and reduced fallowing indicates thatterracing reduced soil and nutrient loss through erosion. However, terracing alone does notimprove soil fertility and thereby crop production. Thus, in order to significantly increaseyields terracing should be supplemented by soil fertility amendments.Keywords: Crop yield, farmland terrace, Maybar, northern Ethiopia, soil erosionContact Address: Shimeles Damene Shiene, University of Bonn, Center for Development Research (ZEF), Dept.of Ecology and Natural Resources Management, Walter-Flex-Str.3, 53113 Bonn, Germany, e-mail: shimelesdamene@yahoo.com

Performance of farmland terraces in maintaining crop productivity in wello, Northern Highlands of Ethiopia

https://cgspace.cgiar.org/bitstream/10568/65640/1/Shiene_DEgpCs0z.pdf

Performance of farmland terraces in maintaining crop productivity in wello, Northern Highlands of Ethiopia

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