Soil Conservation Research in Ethiopia

Abstract

Soil conservation in Ethiopia is considered today to be of top priority, not only to maintain and improve agricultural production but also to achieve food self-sufficiency, which is the long-term objective of the agricultural development programme. Therefore, a massive effort is being made in soil conservation by the Ministry of Agriculture. The Community Forests and Soil Con- servation Development Department has already implemented soil conservation measures on over more than 1 million hectares in the last ten years. However, systematic approaches through local problem identification in this country where there is great variability in agro-ecological factors have been very rare, and consequently soil conservation activities have had a lesser impact than expected. In order to improve this situation the Soil Conservation Project, funded by the Government of Switzerland, became operational in 1981. The project has six research units as experimental sites in Welo, Harerge, Sidamo, Shewa, Gojam, and Eritrea, representing the six most important agro-climatic zones of the Ethiopian highlands. The project so far has made valuable contributions to the scientific understanding of the process of erosion in Ethiopia and has provided useful suggestions for improving soil conservation practices in the field.