The number of globally food-insecure people is increasing since 2017. Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest proportion of severely food-insecure people in the world. Tigray region of Ethiopia is one of ...the food-insecure regions, which, over the past many decades has been affected by recurrent food insecurities. In the drought-prone rural areas of Tigray, many people are living under the condition of chronic hunger. Proper food security studies are vital for proper intervention mechanisms. Yet, previous food security studies have rarely addressed the four pillars of food security: availability, access, utilization, and stability. In this study, all components are duly considered to assess the food insecurity status in the drought-prone rural areas of Tigray, Ethiopia. Of the 34 rural districts in Tigray, 363 households from three drought-prone rural districts were studied.
Household Food Insecurity Access Scale and Food Insecurity Experience Scale were adapted to measure the food availability, access to food, and stability components of food security; and, Household Dietary Diversity Score (HDDS), Food Consumption Score (FCS), mid-upper arm circumference, and Bitot's spot were used to analyze the food utilization aspect. Findings show that 68% of the studied community frequently ate less food than they felt they needed and 82.1% of the households have experienced hunger because of lack of food. The study rural districts were unconnected to road networks; hence, 87.9% of the elderly and 20.4% of the women and girls had no access to food markets. Regarding the food utilization, 81.5% of the studied households had poor FCS; and the average HDDS and FCS for the study areas were 2.47 and 18.9, respectively. The prevalence of Global acute malnutrition, severe acute malnutrition (SAM), and moderate acute malnutrition (MAM) for 6-59 months of age children in the study areas were 50.3, 4.2, and 46.1%, respectively. More notably, the prevalence of SAM for children from the food-insecure households was 21.2%. The prevalence of MAM for pregnant and lactating women (PLW) in the study areas was 59.5. Further, the prevalence of Bitot's spot among 6-59 months of age children was 1.9%. On the other hand, all the rural households had anxiety about their future food demands.
The rural households living in the studied areas were critically food-insecure. All the measurements implied that the food insecurity situation in the study areas was unacceptably worrisome and life-threatening. This calls for an instant action to avert the occurrence of famine and starvation in the drought-prone rural areas of Tigray region. Thus, interventions should primarily target the vulnerable rural people and need to be planned based on attaining food availability first rather than concurrently addressing all components of food security. Further, due emphasis should be given to diversifying livelihood strategies of the vulnerable villagers.
The consequences of prolonged precipitation-deficient periods are primarily substantial water deficit. The spatial characteristics of drylands and various socioeconomic factors worsen droughts' ...impacts and deepen poverty among agrarian communities, with attendant food security (stability dimension) implications. This study utilizes a combination of climate, remote sensing and field survey data to obtain first-hand information on the impacts of recent (2015 and 2017) droughts on crop yield in southern Tigray, northern Ethiopia. Annual and seasonal rainfall, annual and seasonal Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Deviation of NDVI (Dev-NDVI), and monthly Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) (SPI-1, SPI-3 and SPI-12) for June to October, were considered as likely factors that could relate with yield and yield loss in the area. Correlation and multiple linear stepwise regression statistical techniques were used to determine drought-yield relationships, and identify more accurate predictors of yield and yield losses in each of the drought years. The area witnessed a more widespread precipitation deficit in 2015 than in 2017, where the lowland area recorded entire crop (sorghum) losses. Also, droughts manifested spatiotemporal variations and impacts across the two different agroecologies-primarily reduction in vegetation amounts, coinciding with the planting and maturing stages of barley and sorghum. Crop failures, therefore, translated to food shortages and reduced income of smallholder farmers, which denotes food insecurity in the time of droughts. Seasonal rainfall and June Dev-NDVI predicted 66.9% of 2015 barley and sorghum yield-loss, while NDVI predicted 2017 sorghum yield by 96%. Spate irrigation should be further popularized in the low-lying areas of Raya Azebo to augment for future deficiencies in the kiremt rainfall.
Soil organic carbon (SOC) depletion is a threat for the present and future agricultural production in Ethiopia. Hence, investigation of the influence of land management and climate change on SOC is ...required to facilitate climate change mitigation practices. For this study, croplands of the Atsela‐Sesat and Ayba sites from the Alaje district and the Tsigea site from the Raya Azebo district in northern Ethiopia were selected. The RothC model was used to predict future SOC trends and evaluate impacts of climate and land‐management change scenarios on SOC stocks. The RothC model was run for two scenarios, (i) business as usual (scenario 1) and (ii) improved crop residue and manure management (scenario 2), to predict SOC stock changes in the cropland under current and future climate change. The current SOC content and SOC stock of the croplands are 14.4 g kg−1 and 26.7 t ha−1 in Atsela‐Sesat, 14.8 g kg−1 and 27.9 t ha−1 in Ayba and 14.8 g kg−1 and 26.9 t ha−1 in Tsigea, respectively. The RothC model‐predicted SOC accumulation for this century in scenario 1 was 0.26 t C ha−1 in Alaje and 0.18 t C ha−1 in Raya Azebo, whereas in scenario 2 it was 0.52 t C ha−1 in Alaje and 0.36 t C ha−1 in Raya Azebo. Although the predicted SOC accumulation in scenario 2 is higher than in scenario 1 and the baseline scenario, it still has a decreasing trend due to climate change. However, the organic carbon return into the soil is generally small and thus it will not be possible to improve soil productivity and attain food security. Therefore, future soil fertility strategies need to include both organic and inorganic fertilizer application. These findings will help to assist land managers to make informed decisions during land‐management practices to mitigate the impacts of climate change.
Highlights
Land management and climate changes influence cropland SOC stocks in northern Ethiopia
RothC model predicts future SOC trends and dynamics
Appropriate land management increased SOC accumulation and reduced impacts of climate change
Findings help to assist land managers to make informed decisions to mitigate climate change impacts
Depletion of soil nutrient is a major impediment for food production in sub‐Saharan Africa, but little is known about nutrient dynamics at the farm level. Therefore, the objective of this study was ...to evaluate nutrient management on a range of contrasting farms by estimating balances of N, P and K. Representative farmers of three wealth classes (rich, medium and poor) were selected from two different agro‐ecological regions (Alaje and Raya Azebo) in northern Ethiopia. The MonQI model based on data obtained from farm questionnaires was used for processing and analysis of partial nutrient balances (input from mineral and organic fertilizer minus output with crop and straw) and full balances (all input sources minus output with crop, erosion, leaching and gaseous losses). Partial N, P and K balances were 25.6, 6.3 and 7.8 kg ha−1 in Alaje and −7.1, 10.6 and −6.7 kg ha−1 in Raya Azebo. Full N, P and K balances were −26.2, 6.7 and 2.9 kg ha−1 in Alaje and −17.9, 11.1 and −5.3 kg ha−1 in Raya Azebo. Partial N and K and full K balances were different (p < .05) between the regions. Farms owned by rich and poor farmers differed in full N balances in Alaje and in partial N balances in Raya Azebo (p < .05). With the use of more fertilizer, N losses to the environment also increased. Generally, soil stocks of N and K are further declining. There is a need for socio‐economic policies to introduce effective nutrient management on the farms and to provide poorer farmers' access to fertilizer.
Background
Droughts cause serious effects on the agricultural and agro-pastoral sector due to its heavy dependence on rainfall. Several studies on agricultural drought monitoring have been conducted ...in Africa in general and Ethiopia in particular. However , these studies were carried out using the limited capacity of drought indices such as Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Vegetation Condition Index (VCI), and Deviation of Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (DevNDVI) only. To overcome this challenge, the present study aims to analyze the long-term agricultural drought onset, cessation, duration, frequency, severity and its spatial extents based on remote sensing data using the Vegetation Health Index (VHI) 3-month time-scale in Raya and its surrounding area, Northern Ethiopia. Both the MOD11A2 Terra Land Surface Temperature (LST) and eMODIS NDVI at 250 by 250 m spatial resolution and hybrid TAMSAT monthly rainfall data were used. A simple linear regression model was also applied to examine how the agricultural drought responds to the rainfall variability.
Results
Extremely low mean NDVI value ranged from 0.23 to 0.27 was observed in the lowland area than mid and highlands. NDVI coverage during the main rainy season decreased by 3–4% in all districts of the study area, while LST shows a significant increase by 0.52–1.08 °C. VHI and rainfall value was significantly decreased during the main rainy season. Agricultural drought responded positively to seasonal rainfall (R
2
= 0.357 to R
2
= 0.651) at
p
< 0.01 and
p
< 0.05 significance level. This relationship revealed that when rainfall increases, VHI also tends to increase. As a result, the event of agricultural drought diminished.
Conclusions
Remote sensing and GIS-based agricultural drought can be better monitored by VHI composed of LST, NDVI, VCI, and TCI drought indices. Agricultural drought occurs once in every 1.36–7.5 years during the main rainy season, but the frequency, duration and severity are higher (10–11 times) in the lowland area than the mid and highlands area (2–6 times) during the last 15 years. This study suggests that the effect of drought could be reduced through involving the smallholder farmers in a wide range of on and off-farm practices. This study may help to improve the existing agricultural drought monitoring systems carried out in Africa in general and Ethiopia in particular. It also supports the formulation and implementation of drought coping and mitigation measures in the study area.
Farmers in Northern Ethiopia integrate legumes in their cropping systems to improve soil fertility. However, biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) potentials of different legumes and their mineral ...nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) demands for optimum BNF and yields are less studied. This study aimed to generate the necessary knowledge to enable development of informed nutrient management recommendations, guide governmental public policy and assist farmer decision making. The experiment was conducted at farmers’ fields with four N levels, three P levels, and three replications. Nodule number and dry biomass per plant were assessed. Nitrogen difference method was used to estimate the amount of fixed N by assuming legume BNF was responsible for differences in plant N and soil mineral N measured between legume treatments and wheat. The result revealed that the highest grain yields of faba bean (2531 kg ha−1), field pea (2493 kg ha−1) and dekeko (1694 kg ha−1) were recorded with the combined application of 20 kg N ha−1 and 20 kg P ha−1. Faba bean, field pea and dekeko also fixed 97, 38 and 49 kg N ha−1, respectively, with the combined application of 20 kg N ha−1 and 20 kg P ha−1; however, lentil fixed 20 kg ha−1 with the combined application of 10 kg N ha−1 and 10 kg P ha−1. The average BNF of legumes in the average of all N and P interaction rates were 67, 23, 32 and 16 kg N ha−1 for faba bean, field pea, dekeko and lentil, respectively. Moreover, faba bean, field pea, dekeko and lentil accumulated a surplus soil N of 37, 21, 26 and 13 kg ha−1, respectively, over the wheat plot. The application of 20 kg N ha−1 and 20 kg P ha−1 levels alone and combined significantly (p < 0.05) increased the nodulation, BNF and yield of legumes; however, 46 kg N ha-1 significantly decreased BNF. This indicated that the combination of 20 kg N ha−1 and 20 kg P ha−1 levels is what mineral fertilizer demands to optimize the BNF and yield of legumes. The results of this study can lead to the development of policy and farmer guidelines, as intensification of the use of legumes supplied with starter N and P fertilizers in Northern Ethiopian cropping systems has the multiple benefits of enhancing inputs of fixed N, improving the soil N status for following crops, and becoming a sustainable option for sustainable soil fertility management practice.
Nitrogen has becoming the most limiting nutrient in the northern highlands of Ethiopia due to continuous cropping with application of limited external inputs. To improve soil nutrient availability, ...farmers have been using legumes in crop rotation. However, the roles of various legumes on subsequent wheat (Triticum aestivum) crop are unknown in northern Ethiopia. The objective of this study was to investigate impacts of legumes on yield and N uptake of subsequent wheat crop. Experiment was conducted at farmer's field with faba bean (Vicia faba L.), ‘dekeko’ field pea (Pisum sativum var. abyssinicum), field pea (Pisum sativum), lentil (Lens culinaris) and wheat (Triticum spp.) in the first season and all plots were rotated by wheat in the second season. Yield of subsequent wheat crop was recorded and N uptake was analyzed. The result revealed that grain yield and dry biomass yields of subsequent wheat crop were significantly (p < 0.05) higher in the legume-wheat rotations than in the wheat-wheat rotation. The wheat yield is increased by 2196, 1616, 1254 and 1065 kg ha−1 and the N uptake is increased by 71.4%, 51.0%, 49.2% and 29.8% in the faba bean-wheat, ‘dekeko’-wheat, field pea-wheat and lentil-wheat rotation plots compared to the wheat continuous cropping, respectively. The findings indicated that legumes improved yield and N uptake of the subsequent wheat crop. Thus, soil fertility management policy need to consider legume crop rotations as nutrient management option to improve sustainable soil fertility and yield.
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