Elsevier

Ecological Economics

Volume 61, Issues 2–3, 1 March 2007, Pages 294-302
Ecological Economics

Analysis
Determinants of adoption and continued use of stone terraces for soil and water conservation in an Ethiopian highland watershed

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2006.01.014Get rights and content

Abstract

In the Ethiopian highlands, land degradation resulting from soil erosion and nutrient depletion is a serious environmental and socio-economic problem. Although soil and water conservation techniques have extensively been introduced over the past decades, sustained use of the measures was not as expected. Based on data obtained from 147 farming households, this paper examines the determinants of farmers' adoption and continued use of introduced stone terraces in an Ethiopian highland watershed. A sequential decision-making model using the bivariate probit approach was employed to analyze the data. The results show that the factors influencing adoption and continued use of the stone terraces are different. Adoption is influenced by farmers' age, farm size, perceptions on technology profitability, slope, livestock size and soil fertility, while the decision to continue using the practice is influenced by actual technology profitability, slope, soil fertility, family size, farm size and participation in off-farm work. Perceptions of erosion problem, land tenure security and extension contacts show no significant influence. Further, the results indicate the importance of household/farm and plot level factors in farmers' conservation decision. It is therefore concluded that 1) analysis of the determinants of adoption per se may not provide a full understanding of the range of factors influencing farmers' decision of sustained investments and 2) conservation interventions should focus not only on the biophysical performance of the measures but also on economic benefits that can be obtained at reasonable discount rates to the farmers in order to enhance sustained use of the measures.

Introduction

The reason for the poor performance of agriculture in many low-income countries is believed to be partly the deterioration of the natural resource base (Grepperud, 1995). Land degradation due to soil erosion and nutrient depletion is considered as the main problem constraining the development of the agricultural sector. The problem is very serious particularly in the tropical steep lands where rainfed agriculture constitutes the main livelihood of the people (Hurni, 1988, El-Swaify, 1997, Rymshaw et al., 1997, Shiferaw and Holden, 2001). In many of these countries, however, various soil and water conservation (SWC) programs have been unsuccessfully tried to mitigate the land degradation problem (Shiferaw and Holden, 1998). Among others, poor adoption and transitory use of conservation techniques are often mentioned as the major factors limiting efforts aimed at restoration of ecology.

In Ethiopia, agriculture constitutes the largest share of the national economy contributing for 42% of the GDP (2003/04) and 80% of the total employment (MoFED, 2004). Nevertheless, diminishing productivity due to soil erosion induced degradation of agricultural land has been a great concern (e.g. Hurni, 1988, EFAP, 1994). The problem is serious particularly in the highlands (> 1500 m a.s.l.) that comprise nearly 44% of the country's total area, 95% of the cultivated area, about 88% of the human population, and two-thirds of the country's livestock (Kruger et al., 1996). Although estimates of the extent and rate of soil erosion lack consistency, the results of various studies highlight the severity of the problem. Estimates show that 3.7% of the highlands (2 million ha) had been so seriously eroded that they could not support cultivation, while a further 52% had suffered various levels of degradation (Kruger et al., 1996, Wood, 1990).

Despite the severity of the problem, it is only very recently, in the past three decades, that land conservation has received policy attention in the country. Conservation projects have been extensively carried out under the auspices of the World Food Program's food-for-work scheme. Focus of the projects has been on the formulation of technological prescriptions for resource-poor farmers. A range of conservation practices, which include stone terraces, soil bunds and area closures, have been introduced into individual and communal lands at massive scales. However, the trend hitherto shows that the projects have had a limited success in addressing the problem. Among others, the approach pursued in the development and transfer of the conservation practices has been considered as contributing to the ineffectiveness of the projects (e.g. Shiferaw and Holden, 1998, Admassie, 2000), leading to problems of adoption and continued use of the technologies already adopted.

This research is aimed at examining the determinants of farmers' adoption and continued use of introduced conservation technologies in a case study watershed in the Ethiopian central highlands. The specific technique under study is a stone terrace that has been widely promoted over the past decades in the area. The paper is organized as follows. In Section 2, we provide a theoretical context to conservation investments. We specify the model in Section 3. The research site and data and the variables are described in 4 The research site and data, 5 Empirical analysis and variables, respectively. Results and discussions are given in Section 6. Finally, Section 7 concludes the paper.

Section snippets

Theoretical context

The problem of technology adoption in environmental management is increasingly becoming a key issue for researchers and users of natural resources (Guerin, 1999). Hence, research on constraints to the adoption of SWC practices is gaining increasing recognition as the availability of effective technologies is of little value to the individual or society unless it is applied (Smit and Smithers, 1992, McDonald and Brown, 2000).

Experience has shown that appropriate technologies are not always

Model specification

The analytical model presented in this paper is based on the literature on conservation investments. Logit and probit models have extensively been used in the study of farmers' adoption decision of conservation technologies (e.g. Baidu-Forson, 1999, Burton et al., 1999, Lapar and Pandey, 1999, Soule et al., 2000, Franzel et al., 2001). Both of these models provide the possibility of analyzing the probability of adoption or non-adoption of introduced conservation technologies.

However,

The research site and data

This research is undertaken in the Beressa watershed located in the central highlands of Ethiopia. The area lies approximately 140 km to the northeast of Addis Ababa, the capital city, on the way to Dessie. The area is known for higher levels of land degradation in the country (FAO, 1986). The average annual rainfall is 887 mm (1984–2002), with over 80% of the total rainfall between May and September. Elevation ranges between 2740 and 3600 m a.s.l. The Beressa watershed is an agricultural watershed

Empirical analysis and variables

In this research, adoption is defined by considering the implementation of introduced stone terraces on farmers' plots. A farmer is considered adopter (ADOPT) of the stone terraces if s/he implemented the measure at least in one of her/his plots. Hence, non-adopters include those farmers who never used the stone terraces introduced in any of their plots. Based on this information, the farmers were classified into two categories: adopters and non-adopters of the technology. Once the response on

Results and discussion

Table 3 presents the results of the biprobit estimation of the determinants of farmers' adoption and continued use of introduced stone terraces. Overall, significant relationships are observed between the probabilities of the dependent variables and the set of explanatory variables included in the model.

A range of variables is found to have influence on farmers' conservation decision. Unexpectedly, however, the factors influencing adoption and continued use of the stone terraces are not the

Conclusions

As can be seen from the results of several studies, there seems to be disparity in the relative importance of the factors determining land users' conservation decisions. This suggests that for various groups of farmers under varying agro-ecological and socio-economic conditions the relative significance of influencing factors may also differ.

In the Beressa watershed, a range of factors influences farmers' conservation decision. However, the factors influencing adoption and continued use of the

Acknowledgement

Funded by: AAU/ISS/SAIL Project.

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