Highland Ethiopia: permanent basket-case?

Ethiopia’s North Wollo region is prone to recurrent drought and famine. In this highly degraded and over-populated environment can anything be done to improve the fertility of overworked soils, check erosion and offer hope of food security?

A report from the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) questions the Ethiopian government’s strategy of promoting the use of mineral fertiliser and dragooning peasants to participate in top-down conservation endeavours to which they have not consented. It argues the urgent need for systems of nutrient management tailored to Ethiopia’s range of ecological niches. Chemical fertilisers should be combined with organic inputs, soil conservation measures and schemes to promote off-farm activities.

Biomass in the study area is in such short supply that farmers can no longer sustain fertility and halt erosion. Indigenous environmental management systems are in crisis. Age-old strategies cannot be practised. No woodland remains and so farmers are dependent on animal dung for fuel and have none left over to enrich soils. Mulch is no longer spread on fields as all crop residues are needed to feed livestock. No land is left fallow and crop rotation has been abandoned. With government encouragement, half the farmers in the study area use mineral fertilisers in a desperate, and ultimately futile, battle to retain soil fertility. Most peasants are well aware that in an ideal world they should not be using crop residues and manure for fuel and fodder.

Further key findings include:

• Under a regime which outlaws private land ownership and distributes land to peasants, wealth is determined by acquisition of livestock.
• As local farmers do not feel that they own the food-for-work induced conservation structures (terraces and bunds) imposed upon them, they make little effort to maintain them.
• Only a small minority of already fortunate farmers (those living in mid-altitude climes, possessing cattle and having land with deep soil) are benefiting from the extensive programme to promote fertilisers.
• For the majority of Wollo’s peasant farms, erosion has so reduced the depth of soil, and its ability to hold water, that the use of mineral fertilisers is of limited value.
• Local beliefs preclude the application to soils of kitchen ash and household waste which could, at least partially, compensate for the loss of other nutrient inputs.
• One fifth of those adult males with insufficient access to productive land, draught oxen or seed are forced to migrate in search of employment.

Recommendations arising from the study suggest that:

• Provided that community endorsement is obtained, agro-forestry programmes could produce more biomass and provide vegetative cover without taking land out of production.
• Policymakers need to recognise that land scarcity is so great in Wollo that off-farm activities are needed to provide livelihood security.
• Far more effort is needed to involve farmers in decision-making.

Source(s):
‘Managing fragile soils: a case study from North Wollo, Ethiopia’ by Eyasu Elias and Daniel Fantaye, Managing Africa’s Soils #13, International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) April 2000 Full document.

Funded by: INCO-DEV Programme, EU

id21 Research Highlight: 15 May 2001

Further Information:
Eyasu Elias
SOS Sahel International
PO box 3262
Addis Ababa
Ethiopia

Tel: +251 1 189585
Fax: +251 1 613744
Contact the contributor: sos.sahel@telecom.net.et

Other related links:
'Spoils of soil? Unravelling an African soil management initiative'

'Participatory policy processes? Environmental governance in Ethiopia'

IIED's Policies for Soil Fertility Management in Africa

ICARDA focuses on Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas

WRI report on the world's natural resources