Land Degradation Assessment And Evaluation Of Current Landuses And Soil Conservation Structures At Upper Chena Catchment South Gondar Ethiopia

A field study was conducted in Upper Chena catchment, South Gondar, Ethiopia to identify andrndescribe major causes and extent of land degradation, to evaluate current landuse practices, andrnto check the quality of existing soil conservation structures, through household level socio –rneconomic questionnaires, field surveys and soil laboratory analyses.rnSocio - economic data were collected from randomly selected households in the study catchmentrnand data generated were used to identify the major causes and indicators of land degradation.rnStatus of degradation of different landuse types, grazing land, cultivation land and forest (wood)rnland, was assessed using soil organic matter content, cation exchange capacity, bulk density andrngully parameters. Degradation Indices were computed for grazing and cultivation lands throughrncomparison with forest land. To evaluate the current landuse practices against the recommendedrnone, Treatment – Oriented (TO) capability classification scheme was used taking soil depth, slopernpercentage and type of soil and water conservation structures as the main parameters. Quality ofrnstone made terraces was evaluated using the WFP/MOA standard.rnOpen nutrient cycle, poor agronomic practices, poor livestock management and inefficientrnutilization of soil and water conservation structures were the major identified causes of landrndegradation in the study catchment. The study revealed that an average of 2413 kg of biomassrnfuel, including dung and crop residue, was consumed per household per year. A total of 16rnsprings had dried in the catchment.rnOf the soil parameters investigated, organic matter and cation exchange capacity were higher inrnthe forest land while bulk density was high in the grazing land. With respect to the forest land,rncultivation and grazing landuse types had a degradation index of -302 % and -323 %,rnrespectively.Based on the TO classification scheme current landuse in the catchment deviatedrnfrom the recommended one by 30 %. Moreover, only 15 % of the required soil and waterrnconservation structures were constructed, most of which were damaged, indicating that therncurrent landuse practice is faced with land degradation. Vertical interval between successivernterraces and terrace back height varied significantly from the recommended.rnXrnThe overall result of the research indicated that the catchment is under the threat of landrndegradation, necessitating appropriate technical and policy interventions before the problem isrnworsened.

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