Essay On Watershed Management

According to FAO (1986) watershed management is the process of formulating and carrying out a course of action involving manipulation of natural, agricultural and human resources on a watershed to provide resources that are desired by and suitable to society, but under the condition that soil and water resources are not adversely affected. Watershed management must consider the social, economic and institutional factors operating inside and outside the watershed.

Ethiopian agriculture is characterized by low productivity and high sensitivity to climate variation. Over 90% of total agricultural output is produced by small-scale subsistence farmers, of which more than 50% operate on an area of one hectare or less. Production is largely rain-fed

This is especially the case in the arid and semi-arid areas where water scarcity, frequent droughts, soil degradation and other biotic and abiotic constraints lower agricultural productivity and the resilience of the system. In this regard Watershed degradation in Ethiopia is one of the main constraints for agricultural productivity, resulting from the interaction of natural and anthropogenic factors, including erratic rainfall, rugged topography and unsustainable land management practices, both in areas of food crops and in grazing lands. Watershed degradation not only decreased land productivity but also increased social problems (Sertse, 2007; Darghouth et al., 2008). Agricultural production is constrained by high climate variability where rainfall distribution is extremely uneven both spatially and temporally, and this has negative implications for the livelihoods of people (Georgis et al., 2010). Drought frequently results in crop failure, while high rainfall intensities result in low infiltration and high runoff causing enhanced soil erosion and land degradation. Land degradation in the form of soil erosion and declining land fertility is a serious challenge to agricultural productivity and economic growth (Lemenih,

These activities lack integration between farm and non-farm measures, and were neither effective nor sustainable (Bishaw, 2001; Eyasu, 2002; Bekele, 2003). The intervention was more of a top-down approach with limited participation of beneficiaries. Despite this, the SWC activities had a positive impact on reducing soil erosion and increased land productivity. At the same time, the program has been criticized for prioritizing mechanical measures while ignoring other sustainable land management components, such as conservation land management practices, improved land-use systems and livestock management (Osman and Sauerborn, 2001). Since the end of the 1990s, therefore, the SWC activities of the project were developed into a participatory integrated watershed management approach (German et al., 2007) to promote sustainable water and land resources management based on partnerships with the