agri pt 2

• Soil organic matter content

  Improving soil fertility
• Soil management practices to control or reduce soil nutrient depletion

  1. Including legume crops in cereal crop plantings

  2. Applying manure, compost or other organic fertilizers

  3. Adding inorganic fertilizers
• Increase in organic matter content of soils

  • Increases the fertility level of the soils and improves plant growth
  • Better plant growth means better canopy coverage for the soil, resulting in reduced soil erosion
• Liming


  1. Adding calcium and magnesium-rich materials such as limestone to the soil

  2. Increase the pH value and reduce soil acidity
• When soil acidity is reduced


  Plants start to absorb essential nutrients from the soil and crop yield starts to increase
• Acid tolerant crops


  • Rice
  • Cowpea
  • Cassava
  • Mango
• Crops sensitive/tolerant to soil salinity

  • Sorghum (tolerant)
  • Barley (tolerant)
  • Wheat (tolerant)
  • Rice (sensitive)
• Agricultural water management


  Practices used in agriculture to improve water availability for plant growth
• Contour cultivation


  1. Cultivating soils in slopping areas opposite the slope

  2. Slows down water running down the slope and raises the likelihood of water entering the soils
• Rain water conservation


  1. Preparing soil pits with plastic sheets to store rainwater on the farm

  2. Using excess water collected from roof tops of houses for irrigation
• Reducing evaporative loss of water

  1. Spreading organic materials on the surface of the soils (mulching)

  2. Leaving some biomass standing during crop harvest
• Soil conservation practices


  1. Contour farming

  2. Contour bunding

  3. Bench terrace on steep slopes

  4. Storing runoff water
• Drought tolerant crops


  Crops that give adequate yield with low water requirement and low transpiration
• Irrigation management


  Adjusting the amount of water used, the frequency of use and the irrigation time to properties of the soil, crop types and climatic conditions
• Forest management


  Human interventions including planting of trees (afforestation), planning timber harvesting and transport, increasing forest cover, preventing wild forest fires
• Objectives of forest management

  • Provide fuel wood sustainably
  • Allow for more productive use of forest vegetation
  • Create employment and income for rural communities
  • Contribute to biodiversity conservation
  • Reduce deforestation and desert expansion
  • Minimize vulnerability to climate change
  • Reduce carbon emission
• Wildlife management


  Protecting natural habitats from destruction through reducing human encroachment into grasslands, forests and grazing lands
• Walia Ibex and Ethiopian Wolf are among the most endangered endemic wild animals in Ethiopia mainly due to habitat destruction
• Environment


  Climatic, biological and chemical conditions that may affect the growth and welfare of organisms
• Objectives of environmental management

  • Protect human health and wellbeing
  • Conserve and preserve all life forms and their habitats
  • Prevent the release of harmful chemicals into the environment
• Indigenous knowledge


  Knowledge developed by a community through observation and experience, associated with traditional belief systems
• Indigenous soil and water conservation practices in north Shewa

  • Constructing wide water ways between farms
  • Constructing medium-sized traditional ditches
  • Constructing single line of stones across farms
  • Planting tree species on farm edges
  • Using local vegetative barriers
• Indigenous natural resource management practices of Gumuz community

  • Viewing natural resources as sacred, ancestral heritage, and community owned
  • Enforcing customary laws and conventions by elders
• Biodiversity refers to the range of all forms of life on earth, including plants, animals, humans, bacteria and other organisms
• Biodiversity


  Includes the different species, sub-species and communities that exist in a given habitat like a rainforest or grassland
• Ethiopia is a country of high geographic and climatic diversity, resulting in high diversity of plant and animal species inhabiting the different agro ecologies
• Biodiversity provides products and services in food production, firewood, fiber and construction materials, medicinal resources, climate regulation, disease and pest control, pollination, purification of drinking water and air, soil erosion control, waste decomposition, recreation, sports, hunting, source of foreign currency, and education and research
• Threats to biodiversity


  • Land use change
  • Unsustainable use of resources
  • Invasive species
  • Climate change
  • Environmental pollution
  • Population growth
• Biodiversity conservation


  The planned management of biodiversity in a particular ecosystem to prevent overexploitation, pollution, destruction and to ensure biodiversity is maintained
• The major objectives in biodiversity conservation are to maintain sustainable use of species and the ecosystem, life supporting systems, and essential ecological processes
• Approximately 85% of the population in Ethiopia lives in rural areas, and their livelihood directly or indirectly depends on natural resources, making biodiversity conservation vital
• Ethiopia has diverse ecosystems containing diverse biological resources including plant genetic resources, animal genetic resources, and wildlife genetic resources
• Threats to biodiversity in Ethiopia include deforestation, habitat destruction, poor regeneration, expansion of invasive species, overgrazing, over-browsing, and conversion of grazing lands to cultivated lands
• Examples of endangered wild animals in Ethiopia


  • Walia Ibex
  • Mountain Nyala
  • Ethiopian Wolf
• Efforts are in place in Ethiopia to reduce the destruction of forest resources, involving local communities in forest management and establishing protected areas like national and regional parks, wildlife sanctuaries, wildlife reserves, botanical gardens, and controlled hunting centers
• Climate variability


  Short term (days, weeks or months) variability in the climate
• Climate change leads to fundamental changes in the ecosystem
• Greenhouse gases


  Gases that trap heat in the atmosphere and cause global warming
• The major greenhouse gases are carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O)
• The accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere causes climate change