Dynamics and driving forces of agricultural landscapes in Southern Ethiopia – a case study of the Chencha and Arbaminch areas

Figures & data

Figure 1. Location of the study area. To view this figure in colour, please see the online version of the journal.

Figure 2. Cultivated land of the study area. To view this figure in colour, please see the online version of the journal.

Table 1. Landholdings of households.

	Doko Mesho (highland-dega)	Dorze Belle (middle altitude-woinadega)	Chano Chelba (lowland-qola)
Land size (ha)	%	%	%
<0.1	9.5	8.1	5.1
0.1–0.5	55.8	62.2	28.2
0.51–1.0	22.4	20.4	41.0
1.01–1.5	9.8	8.1	18.0
1.51–2.0	2.5	1.2	7.7
Total	100	100	100

Table 2. Land use and allocation by surveyed households.

Crops	Highland (Doko Mesho) % of respondents	Mid-altitude (Dorze Belle) % of respondents	Lowland (Chano Chelba) % of respondents
Enset	9	11	–
Barley	24	22	–
Wheat	21	21	–
Banana	–	–	75
Other food crops	29	33	16
Trees	11	8	6
Grass land	6	5	3

Table 3. Total number of livestock owned by all sampled households.

	Doko Mesho (highland-dega) (40 surveyed households)	Dorze Belle (middle altitude-woinadega 40 surveyed households)	Chano Chelba (lowland-qola) (40 surveyed households)
	TLU	TLU	TLU
Cattle	35.0	62.0	134.0
Sheep	19.2	4.2	2.7
Goat	0.4	3.8	4.1
Donkey	1.6	4.0	7.2
Mule	5.6	3.2	–
Horse	7.2	2.4	–
Total TLU	69.0	79.6	148.0

Notes: One Tropical Livestock Unit (TLU) is equal to 250 kg. The TLU values for different species of animals are: 0.7 for cattle; 0.8 for horse or mule; 0.5 for donkey; and 0.1 for goat or sheep.

Table 4. Major constraints of agricultural production in the highland as perceived by surveyed households*.

Constraints	Per cent of respondents
Scarcity of cultivated land	97
Soil fertility decline	87
Grazing land shortage	86
Soil erosion	81
Low fertilizer input	56
Erratic rainfall	57
Lack of improved seed	53
Pests and diseases	17
Inadequate extension services	23
Others	19

Note: *Percentages do not add up to 100 due to multiple responses.