Adoption of Sustainable Land Management Practices among Smallholder Farmers in Sekota District, North-eastern Ethiopia

Asresu, Melaku
Tarekegn, Chalachew

International Journal on Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources (IJFANRES)
Vol 6, No 2 (2025): IJ-FANRES

Despite the promotion of sustainable land management practices to enhance agricultural productivity by the government and non-governmental organizations, the adoption rate of these practices among smallholder farmers remains low. The present study aims to analyze the determining factors influencing the adoption of these practices and to identify the major challenges in adopting these practices. The data was collected from 267 households using a multistage sampling technique, which included a household survey, key informant interviews, and focus group discussions during the 2024 production season. Descriptive, inferential statistics and multinomial logit models were used to analyze the quantitative data, while the qualitative data was analyzed by narrations and conceptual generalization. The multinomial regression result shows that the adoption of livestock manure was positively influenced by household age, education, livestock holdings, and income (P ≤ 10%), while the slope and farm size negatively influenced the adoption of livestock manure. Compost adoption was positively allied to education, livestock holdings, credit access, and training (P ≤ 10%). The adoption of inorganic fertilizer was influenced by education, farm experience, credit access, and income (P ≤ 10%), whereas age, slope, and farm size negatively influenced the adoption of compost and inorganic fertilizer. Integrated methods were positively influenced by education, livestock holdings, family size, credit access, and training (P ≤ 10%), while the slope of farmland negatively affected the adoption of integrated methods. The majority of respondents expressed that changes in the price of agricultural inputs (44.94%), a lack of capital (19.1%), tenure security (16.1%), small livestock units (14.61%), and labor intensiveness (5.24%) were the major factors influencing their decisions. Consequently, boosting access to training, extension services, and credit, improving land productivity per unit area, and addressing the significant challenges specific to each practice are important for encouraging sustainable land management in the district.