Impact Of Resettlement On Soil Quality And Management Practices The Case Of Gimbo Woreda Keffa Zone Snnpr Ethiopia

Rapid population growth and environmental degradation coupled with mismanagement ofrnland resources in the northern parts of the country led to the adoption of resettlement as arnpolicy option to address the problem by resettling people in the southern parts of the country.rnGimbo woreda was one of the destinations that received large population number fromrnnorthern parts especially from Wollo .However, it was not only unplanned but also littlernattention was given to ecological, social and cultural attitudes of both natives and resettlers.rnThe objective of this study is to assess the impact of resettlement and land managementrnpractices on soil quality and soil erosion status in cultivated fields of both the resettler andrnnative. Preliminary study with semi detailed survey followed by multistage-samplingrntechnique was used to select study sites for soil sampling, determination of erosion rates byrnUSLE adapted to Ethiopia; and household survey with semi-structured questionnaires. Soilrnsamples were collected from cultivated fields and the adjacent natural forest. The resultsrnindicate that the soil quality status of cultivated fields of resettlers is significantly different atrn0.05 significance interval from that of natives. The mean result of soil quality indicators forrnthe cultivated fields’ of resettlers (pH, OM, TN, AvP, AvK and CEC) showed 15% to 56%rndecline as compared to that of forest soils. But it was found that 2% to 31% of the decline forrnthe cultivated fields of native. The mean annual soil loss from the cultivated fields ofrnresettlers’ was higher than cultivated field of natives in average of 1t/ha/yrs across slopernzones. There is also a difference in land management practices, i.e. about 93% of resettlerrnfarmers used commercial fertilizer for maintaining soil fertility but only 4.4% native used it.rn57.8% of surveyed native farmers practiced short fallow period as a soil managementrnpractice and none of resettler practiced it. Both resettlers and natives are well aware ofrndegradation and its causes. The study revealed that continuous cultivation of resettlers’ landrnwithout appropriate land management practices will further deteriorate soil quality.rnKey words: Resettlement, Soil quality, Soil quality indicators, USLE, RUSLE

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