Impacts of long-term soil and water conservation on agricultural productivity: The case of Anjenie watershed, Ethiopia

Over the last three decades, many soil and water conservation projects have been implemented in various parts of eastern and southern Africa to control land degradation, and improve land productivity, especially under ‘catchment approach’ initiatives of the 1980s. In Ethiopia, many of these soil conservation projects were implemented following the severe drought of 1974. To capture long-term impacts of these initiatives, a study was conducted in Anjenie Watershed of Ethiopia, assessing fanya juu terraces and grass strips constructed in a pilot project in 1984, and which are still functional 25 years later. Data were collected from government records, field observations and questionnaire surveys administered to 60 farmers. Half of the respondent had terraced farms in the watershed former project area (with technology) and the rest were outside the terraced area (without technology). The crops assessed were teff, barley and maize. Cost–benefit analyses were used to determine the economic benefits with and without terraces, including gross and net profit values, returns on labour, water productivity and impacts on poverty.