RESUMO
Understanding soil property and crop yield responses to variations in land use and topographic gradient is vital for designing targeted soil and agronomic management practices. This study investigated the interrelationships between land use, topographic position, soil properties, and crop yield. Three replicates of three land use types - enset agroforestry, cropland (annual crop), and grazing land - were selected along a toposequence (upper, middle and lower) for the study. A total of 54 composite soil samples were collected and analyzed. Grain yield and above ground biomass were also gathered from the cropland and analyzed. Soil profile descriptions revealed notable variations in soil physical properties, including soil texture, bulk density, color, horizons, and depth among the pedons of the three topographic positions. Clay and silt fractions exhibited significant differences between land uses and topographic positions, while the sand fraction was influenced by topographic position alone. Crop and grazing lands displayed higher clay content compared to the enset field. A decreasing trend in clay fraction was observed from upper to lower topographic positions. The enset field had significantly higher soil pH, OC, TN, and K+ contents than crop field. A significantly higher available P of 16.61 mg kg-1 was measured from lower slope position followed by 14.08 mg kg-1 in middle slope. The upper slope position had the highest exchangeable acidity of 3.09 cmol(+) kg-1), followed by middle slope with 2.77 cmol(+) kg-1), 2.45 cmol(+) kg-1) in the lower slope position. Grain yield and above ground biomass decreased from lower slope to middle slope and upper slope positions. These observed variations in soil properties and crop yield among land uses and topographic positions underscore the necessity for tailored soil management strategies and agronomic practices specific to land use types and the specific localized topographic conditions to optimize agricultural productivity.
RESUMO
Different arrangements of decentralized forest management have been promoted as alternatives to centralized and top down approaches to halt tropical deforestation and forest degradation. Ethiopia is one of the countries piloting one of these approaches. To inform future programs and projects it is essential to learn from existing pilots and experiences. This paper analyses five of the pilot participatory forest management (PFM) programs undertaken in Ethiopia. The study is based on the Forest User Group (FUG) members' analyses of the programs using selected outcome variables: forest income, change in forest conditions, forest ownership feelings and effectiveness of FUGs as forest managing institutions. These variables were assessed at three points in time-before the introduction of PFM, during the project implementation and after the projects ended. Data were collected using group discussions, key informant interviews and transect walks through the PFM forests. The results show that in all of the five cases the state of the forest is perceived to have improved with the introduction of PFM, and in four of the cases the improvement was maintained after projects ended. Regulated access to the forests following introduction of PFM was not perceived to have affected forest income negatively. There are, however, serious concerns about the institutional effectiveness of the FUGs after projects ended, and this may affect the success of the PFM approach in the longer term.
