SUMMARY Long-term in situ soil and water conservation experiments are rare in sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in Eastern Africa. A long-term experiment was conducted (2005–2013) on a Vertisol to quantify the impacts of resource-conserving agriculture (RCA) on runoff, soil loss, soil fertility and crop productivity and economic profitability in northern Ethiopia. Two RCA practices were developed from traditional furrow tillage practices: (i) derdero+ (DER+) and terwah + (TER+). DER+ is a furrow and permanent raised bed planting system, tilled once at planting time by refreshing the furrow and 30% of crop residue is retained. TER+ is ploughed once at planting, furrows are made at 1.5 m intervals and 30% crop residue is retained. The third treatment was a conventional tillage (CT) with a minimum of three tillage operations and complete removal of crop residues. Wheat, teff, barley and grass pea crops were grown in rotation. Runoff, and soil and nutrient loss were measured in plastic sheet-lined collector trenches. Significantly different ( P < 0.05) runoff coefficients (%) and soil losses (t ha −1 ) averaged over 9 yrs were 14 and 3, 22 and 11 and 30 and 17 for DER+, TER+ and CT, respectively. Significant improvements in crop yield and gross margin were observed after a period of three years of cropping This study demonstrated that RCA systems in semi-arid agro-ecosystems constitute a field rainwater conservation and soil fertility improvement strategy that enhances crop productivity and economic profitability. Adoption of RCA systems (DER+ and TER+) in the study area requires further work to improve smallholder farmers’ awareness on benefits, to guarantee high standards during implementation and to design appropriate weed management strategies.
The freeze-thaw cycles in periglacial areas during the Quaternary glacials increased frost weathering, leading to a disintegration of rock formations. Transported downslope, clasts allowed in some areas the formation of stratified slope deposits known as “grezes litees”. This study reviews the existing theories and investigates the grezes litees deposits of Enscherange and Rodershausen in Luxembourg. This process was reinforced by the lithostructural control of the parent material expressed by the dip of schistosity (66°) and its orientation parallel to the main slopes in the area. This gave opportunities to activate the frost-weathering process on top of the ridge where the parent material outcropped. As the stratified slope deposits have a dip of 23° and as there is no significant lateral variation in rock fragment size, slope processes that involve only gravity are excluded and transportation in solifluction lobes with significant slopewash and sorting processes is hypothesized. The Enscherange formation, the biggest known outcrop of grezes litees in north-western Europe, shows evidence of clear layering over the whole profile depth. A palaeolandscape reconstruction shows that ridges must have been tens of metres higher than presently. The investigation of the matrix composition shows Laacher See tephra in the overlying periglacial cover bed with infiltrations of the minerals in the reworked upper layer of the grezes litees deposit. Chronostratigraphic approaches using the underlying cryoturbation zone and Laacher See heavy minerals in the overlying topsoil place the formation of grezes litees deposits in the Late Pleistocene.
Extension, or distribution of scientific knowledge to the end users in Africa and Ethiopia in particular, goes through a long formal extension system. As we have carried out research in the Tigray region of Ethiopia since more than 20 years and published >100 articles in SCI journals, we may state that we did a significant contribution to scientific knowledge regarding a wide range of scientific disciplines that are relevant for rural development and sustainable livelihood. From all this research three extension manuals came out, two in English and in the local Tigrigna language, and one in English only. We recently also started preparing research briefs that are aimed at policy makers at different levels. Direct knowledge sharing with farmers was done through (i) the implementation of five development projects, and (ii) the organisation of so-called Farmers’ Days (a dozen in total) in which farmers from various districts were brought to a particular area, where research findings are demonstrated in the field. It is not clear how much of this information finally trickles down from the privileged model farmers who generally assist in such Farmers’ Days, to the rest of the community. In a bid to reach the rural community, to hand the knowledge directly to the farmers, and hence to empower them, we took inspiration from ‘almanacs’ as they had been used in northwest Europe since many centuries. One of the traditional functions of such almanacs is, in view of the close links between a calendar and farmworks, to attempt to make such booklets most useful to the peasant majority of the population.
Hence, the objectives of the research reported here are to (1) develop a booklet that holds basic research findings, expressed in simple words, and combined with other useful and sometimes lighter information; (2) distribute it among farmers with the aim that it is not only read by farmers but also passed on and discussed within the communities (farmer-to-farmer extension); and (3) evaluate the take-up of the messages contained in the booklet. An almanac type booklet was developed specifically for the district of Dogu’a Tembien, where the authors have their attachments, and where much of the mentioned research was carried out. Inspiration was taken from one of the most popular, the Mathieu Laensberg almanac, edited regularly since 1636, and still published as Almanach de Liege. All 19 municipalities (tabias) of Dogu’a Tembien had been visited through more than 20 years of formal research undertakings, and they were again visited to collect very local information from at least three key informants per tabia. Key informants were at least 50 years old, generally male, and lived their whole life in their village.
The resulting booklet is written in Tigrigna language (Fig. 1). The title is “ካብ ሓረስቶት ደጉዓ ተምቤን እንታይ ንስምዕ?” (Kab harestot Dogu’a Tembien entai nsemie? – What do we hear from the farmers in Dogu’a Tembien?); it was chosen to give the farmers as much as possible ownership of the book’s contents. In its 100 pages, the book contains sections about market days, typical traditional Tigrigna words (landforms, rocks, housing, ploughing, land management, crop harvesting, livestock keeping, roads and footpaths), the geology of the area, names and locations of the best springs and local beer houses, conservation agriculture, soil and water conservation, reforestation, gully control, farmers’ sayings on weather and climate, rain and temperature in the district, all local religious holidays when many people gather in a particular village once a year, tree planting, and catchment management. These sections are organised by larger thematic topics, mingling sections on local knowledge, scientific findings, some ‘wise advice’ (e.g., do not mistreat donkeys; global warming; gender equality), and lighter sections. Generally an organisation by month of the year was attempted. The authors are mentioned in several places of the book by their first names (or even nickname) and the readers are invited to interact with them. An internal review of the book was done by Mitiku Haile, former president of Mekelle University, who has a background of soil science and sustainable land management. The first edition of the booklet was printed in 1000 copies; it is being distributed through individual contacts with farmers, in their home, during social gatherings in small local beer houses on the occasion of the market in Hagere Selam, and also at annual holidays in villages.
Evaluation of the process is ongoing, in which we verify whether the ambitions of the booklet with regard to popular education are fulfilled, and also through which pathways the information is shared. For instance, whether it is read aloud with discussion, in social gatherings or at the wake. This will then be the base for reworking the book towards a second edition.
Abstract The war in Tigray, Ethiopia has displaced millions of people and created a humanitarian crisis. However, the impacts of the conflict on cultivated land area and local food production remains poorly quantified, hindering aid efforts. We used Sentinel-2 satellite imagery and developed multiple cultivation detection criteria based on Normalized Difference Vegetation Index time series validated using field observations from 2021 and 2022. Significant net losses of well cultivated land in highland croplands (elevation ≥ 1200 m ) were observed between 2019/20 (pre-war) and 2021 (in-war), with greater losses in areas with higher density of conflict incidents. Sub-regions with high estimated loss of well cultivated land also exhibited high numbers of internally displaced people (IDP), consistent with a causal effect of the conflict on land abandonment. Our study estimated that the kilocalories lost due to abandonment of croplands (excluding Western Tigray zone) could have supported about 1.2 times the recorded IDPs in the region.
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