Abstract
This study investigates the sustainable development status of micro and small enterprises (MSEs) in Debre Berhan town in five major manufacturing sub‐sectors (textile and garment, ...agro‐processing, woodwork, food processing and beverage and metal works and engineering). The sustainable development status of the selected MSEs was evaluated using 16 indicators for the three pillars of sustainable development (economic, social and environmental). The results showed that economic sustainability was at a ‘low’ level, while social and environmental sustainability and the aggregate index were at ‘moderate’ levels. Therefore, integrated support is required to overcome the identified challenges MSEs face to achieve sustainable development.
This study evaluates recent spatiotemporal variability and trends in rainfall and temperature in the central highlands of Ethiopia by using monthly rainfall and temperature records. The monthly ...rainfall data are for 132 points of 10 × 10 km grids reconstructed from weather stations and meteorological satellite observations, which cover the period between 1983 and 2013. The monthly maximum and minimum temperatures are for the same points and girds, but cover the period 1981-2011. Linear regression is used to each of the 132 grid points to detect changes or trends in rainfall, maximum and minimum temperatures and the statistical significance of the trends is determined by the F-distribution test. These points were reclassified into the three districts (Woredas in Amharic) studied having different agroecologies by extraction techniques with ArcGIS 10.1 and converted into raster to generate surface data using simple krigging interpolation technique. Annual and June-September (Kiremt) rainfall exhibit statistically insignificant increasing trends in most of the grid points while March-May (Belg) rainfall shows significant decreasing trends. On the other hand, significant spatiotemporal variability in the maximum and minimum temperatures is observed across the study area. The warming trends in the maximum and minimum temperatures for Basona Werana and Efratana Gidim, respectively, are statistically significant at p = .05 and p = .01 levels. It is concluded that trends of rainfall and temperature vary considerably within the study area. This indicates the need for local-level analysis, and context-specific planning and implementation of climate change adaptation interventions.
This study has evaluated suitability of the Sinana Research Site (SRS) (southeastern Ethiopia) for sustainable wheat and barley production to improve local food security. Physical land evaluation was ...undertaken using data about ten land characteristics. Matching land characteristics with land use requirements was made, first. Decision on the overall level of suitability of the area for wheat and barley farming was conducted using the “maximum limiting factor” technique. Over two-third (70.2%) of SRS was marginally suitable for barley farming, but 29.8% of the area was “not suitable” for it. Only slightly less than three-fifth (57.6%) of the area was marginally suitable for wheat production, and the rest 42.4% was “not suitable” for it. Deficient N and P supply and soil alkalinity were critical constraints of land suitability for both crops. Thus, integrated application of inorganic and organic fertilizers and rotating leguminous crops with wheat and barley are useful to mitigate deficiency of N and P in the soil. Hence, farms under “marginally” and “not” suitable classes could be improved to moderate (S2) or high (S1) level of suitability for the crops studied. This, in turn, improves yield and food security status of households in the study area.
Ethiopia is frequently identified as a country that is highly vulnerable to climate variability and change. The study was aimed to examine agro-ecological based smallholder farmers’ livelihood ...vulnerability to climate variability and change in Oromo Nationality Administration (ONA), North East Ethiopia. Data were collected from a survey of 335 sampled households, focus group discussion, and interview from three different agro-ecologies in the study area and secondary sources. Count, percentage, mean, standard deviation, Chi-square test (test of independence), ANOVA, Livelihood Vulnerability Index (LVI) and LVI-IPCC were used for analysis. LVI and LVI-IPCC results revealed that Kolla is the most vulnerable (0.18) because of its highest exposure (0.74) and sensitivity (0.71) values and lowest adaptive capacity (0.49) while Daga is least vulnerable (0.08) because of its lowest exposure (0.61) and sensitivity (0.42). Overall, results suggest that the two methods resulted in similar degrees of vulnerability and identified Kolla agro-ecological zone as the most vulnerable while the Dega agro-ecological zone is the least vulnerable of the three agro-ecological zones. The researchers conclude that development strategies and plans should be prepared considering local-specific issues and/or situation.
Climate analysis at relevant time scales is important for water resources management, agricultural planning, flood risk assessment, ecological modeling and climate change adaptation. This study ...analyses spatiotemporal variability and trends in rainfall and temperature in Alwero watershed, western Ethiopia. Our analysis is focused on describing spatial and temporal variability of rainfall in the study area including detection of trends, with no attempt at providing meteorological explanations to any of the patterns or trends. The study is based on gridded monthly rainfall and maximum and minimum temperature data series at a resolution of 4 × 4 km which were obtained from the National Meteorological Agency of Ethiopia for the period 1983–2016. The study area is represented by 558 points (each point representing 4 × 4 km area). Mean annual rainfall of the watershed is > 1600 mm. Annual, June–September (
Kiremt
), March–May (
Belg
) rainfall totals exhibit low inter-annual variability. Annual and October-February
(Bega)
rainfalls show statistically significant increasing trends at
p
= 0.01 level. May and November rainfall show statistically significant increasing trends at
p
= 0.01 level. March shows statistically significant decreasing trend at
p
= 0.1 level. The mean annual temperature of the watershed is 25 °C with standard deviation of 0.31 °C and coefficient of variation of 0.01 °C. Mean annual minimum and maximum temperatures show statistically non-significant decreasing trends.
Bega
season experienced statistically significant deceasing trend in the maximum temperature at
p
= 0.01 level. The year-to-year variability in the mean annual minimum and maximum temperatures showed that the 2000s is cooler than the preceding decades. Unlike our expectations, annual and seasonal rainfall totals showed increasing trends while maximum and minimum temperatures showed decreasing trends. Our results suggest that local level investigations such as this one are important in developing context-specific climate change adaptation and agricultural planning, instead of coarse-scale national level analysis guiding local level decisions.
•Environmental sustainability was at 'high' level, while social and economic sustainability and the aggregate index were at ‘moderate’ levels.•The overall level of community participation in the ...planning and evaluation phases of watershed management was at 'low' levels. The implementation phase was at 'high' level.•Sustaining watershed management faces different environmental, economic and social challenges which need to be managed in the short and long-term.•A shift in approach is suggested to ensure the watershed remains environmentally compatible, economically viable, and socially acceptable.•An integrated support is needed to overcome the identified challenges to achieve sustainable development in watersheds.
Assessing the sustainability of watersheds holds significant importance for regional natural resource management and to achieve sustainable development. This study investigated the sustainability of the Wulo Abiye watershed, central highlands of Ethiopia. The sustainability status of the watershed was evaluated by using 17 indicators representing the economic, social, and environmental dimensions of sustainable development goals (SDGs) based on the local and existing conditions of the watershed. The results indicated that environmental sustainability was at 'high' level, while social and economic sustainability and the aggregate index were at ‘moderate’ levels. The overall level of community participation in the planning and evaluation phases of watershed management was at 'low' levels. The implementation phase was at 'high' level. Overall, the sustainability status of watershed management and level of community participation were at ‘moderate’ levels. The study concluded that integrated support is needed to overcome the identified challenges to achieve sustainable development in watersheds.
Food insecurity has emerged as a key problem and development challenge in Ethiopia even after the country has shown some economic recovery. The main objective of this study was to analyze food ...security determinants and coping strategies in central highlands of Ethiopia. The data were collected from 123 households from three Kebeles, nine key informant interviews, and three focus group discussions. The methods of analysis included household food balance model (HFBM), Foster–Greer–Thorbecke (FGT), household food consumption score (HFCS), and binary logistic regression model (BLR). The results indicated that 62% of the households were food insecure. The mean calorie intake of the households was 2051.02 kcal/person/day. A statistically significant difference across the agroecological zones was observed in terms of food insecurity at the p = 0.05 level. Empirically, landholding size and soil fertility were the significant determinants of food security status at p = 0.01 level. Changes in consumption patterns and the sale of livestock are the dominant coping strategies reported by 88% and 84% of households, respectively. This study recommends changes in government policies and strategies to sustainably mitigate food security challenges by focusing on the district’s potential.
This study assesses land use and land cover (LULC) dynamics and their impacts in the Alwero watershed, in western Ethiopia. LULC datasets were created from Landsat imagery from 1973, 1987, 2002, and ...2020 using ArcGIS 10.7® software. Results show that forest cover decreased from 52 to 30% between 1973 and 2020, mainly due to the expansion of cultivated land (small and large farms). Between 1973 and 2020, the number of small farms increased from 7.4 to 13.2%, with a net decrease in bare land (74.2%), grassland (19.7%), and forest (2.6%). Large farms increased from 1.5 to 7.2% between 2002 and 2020, with a net decrease in fallow (44%) and natural vegetation (19.4%). Fallow land shows a decreasing trend from 28% (1973) to 13% (2020), due to increased conversion to small farms (35.0%) and large farms (20.1%). The main causes of the changes are the rapid population growth and the large scale agricultural investments in the region. The deterioration of local people's living conditions and deforestation are the main impacts of LULC change in the study area. The innovative element of this study is the production of maps for large and small farms separately, which is useful for making decisions related to problems of large agricultural land investments (LALIs). The study concludes that the continued loss of forests will affect the government's development vision in general and mitigation of the negative impacts of climate change and climate variability in particular.
This study analyzed long-term extreme precipitation indices using 4 × 4 km gridded data obtained from the National Meteorological Agency of Ethiopia between 1981 and 2018. The study examined trends ...in extreme precipitation over three districts (Lay Gayint, Tach Gayint, and Simada) in the northwestern highlands of Ethiopia. Innovative Trend Analysis (ITA) and Mann–Kendall (MK) trend tests were used to study extreme precipitation trends. Based on the ITA result, the calculated values of nine indices (90% of the analyzed indices) showed significant increasing trends (p < 0.01) in Lay Gayint. In Tach Gayint, 70% (seven indices) showed significantly increasing trends at p < 0.01. On the other hand, 60% of the extreme indices showed significant downward trends (p < 0.01) in Simada. The MK test revealed that 30% of the extreme indices had significantly increasing trends (p < 0.01) in Lay Gayint. In Tach Gayint, 30% of the extreme indices showed significant increasing trends at p < 0.05, while 10% of the extreme indices exhibited significant increasing trends at p < 0.01. In Simada, 20% of the extreme indices showed significant increasing trends at p < 0.05. Overall, the results showed that the ITA method can identify a variety of significant trends that the MK test misses.
This study describes the different coping and adaptation strategies used by smallholder farmers to mitigate the adverse impacts of climate change and variability in the central highlands of Ethiopia. ...A distinction was made between coping and adaptation strategies, respectively, as short-term and longer term measures. The study surveyed 200 farm households in three districts, and three focus group discussions and three key informant interviews were conducted in each district. All the surveyed farmers perceived at least one aspect of change in the local climate. Their perception of an increasing trend of temperature was supported by meteorological records, while their perception of declining annual rainfall was not supported by actual records in two of the three districts, where positive trends in rainfall were observed. Farmers identified changes in rainfall and drought as their major climate change-related risks. In response, farmers used different strategies to mitigate the adverse effects of climate change and variability. The most widely used coping strategy was selling livestock (85% of the respondents), followed by changing consumption pattern (76% of the respondents). Changing crop planting dates was the most preferred adaptation option (89% of the respondents), while irrigation as an adaptation strategy was used only by 10% of the surveyed farmers. Shortage of water for irrigation (83% of the respondents) and shortage of money to buy necessary inputs (77% of the respondents) were the major barriers to effective adaptation frequently cited in the study area. We conclude that adaptation policy should build on existing coping and adaptation strategies and focus on addressing barriers to the adoption of coping and adaptation measures at different scales.
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