Assessment on Challenges and Prospects of the Community Livelihood

Assessment on Challenges and Prospects of the Community Livelihood in Upper Blue Nile, Chira Watershed, Northwest Ethiopia

Biruk Yazie Wubetie¹*, Tigist Kefale Mekonen², Birhane Anagaw Abebe³

¹College of Agriculture and Environmental Science, Bahir Dar University. ²College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Debre Markos University; ³College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, Bahir Dar University

The systematic assessment of community livelihood assets, strategies and economic and social conditions are essential for improving the living standards of the existing community and sustaining the resource development of the future generation. The main aim of this study is to identify the community development needs and potentials by assessing the challenges and prospects of the community under Chira watershed. Cross-sectional research design was employed. The data were analyzed by using frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, cross-tabulation along with inferential statistics like t-test; Chi-square test. The survey result indicated that only 17.5% of this land is conserved and covered by improved soil and water conservation measures. Only 17% of the respondents have used irrigation for crop production purpose and all of them were used traditional irrigation activities. Regardless of production increase, high price of fertilizer (50%), land shortage (25%), soil degradation (16.7%), lack of money (3.3%), lack of oxen (3.3%) and natural disaster (1.7 %) were mentioned as the current problems regarding crop production activities. Generally, infrastructure development in the area is weak and, therefore, much improvement is in need like developing roads, well developed farmer training center and demonstration sites, saving and credit institutions, electricity and mobile networks.

Keywords: Assessment, Livelihood, Chira watershed, Ethiopia

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How to cite this article:

Biruk Yazie Wubetie, Tigist Kefale Mekonen, Birhane Anagaw Abebe. Assessment on Challenges and Prospects of the Community Livelihood in Upper Blue Nile, Chira Watershed, Northwest Ethiopia.American Journal of Agricultural Research, 2022; 7:116. DOI: 10.28933/ajar-2020-09-1660

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