Abstract:
Environmental and climate changes are among the serious threats to the world’s land
resources in the 21
st
Century. Particularly, in the developing countries the impact inevitably goes as the
continuing toll on agricultural production, human lives, and properties. It is also a driving force of poverty
and impediment of overall economic development in many less developed nations, like Ethiopia.
Therefore, this paper assesses the rural communities’ vulnerability to farmland poverty in different
ecological settings of northwest Ethiopia. Data were collected from 525 randomly selected farming
households using questionnaire. Meteorological data were collected from Global Weather Data for soil
and water assessment tool (SWAT) from 1979 to 2010. Rainfall and temperature trends were
characterized using simple linear regression model. Rural communities’ vulnerability to farmland
poverty was determined using livelihood vulnerability index (LVI). Indices were constructed using
simple and weighted average approaches to measure farmlands’ exposure, sensitivity and adaptive
capacity. Overall communities’ levels of vulnerability to farmlands poverty were found to be 0.61 in the
lowland, 0.46 in the flat highland and 0.58 in the midland areas. In almost all indicators the lowland
(Abay Valley) is more vulnerable to farmland-related troubles as the biophysical and socio-economic
contexts were found to be the worst there. Communities and government and non-government officials
have observed significant negative impacts of drought and extreme weather events on farmlands, and
pasturelands with declining availability, productivity and quality of farmlands. This study suggests
education and research interventions for enhancing community-based participatory integrated watershed
management approach supported with best indigenous knowledge and farmers’ practices. Adaptation
interventions should also consider local communities’ resource capacity (low-cost investment in sound
farmland and soil management techniques).
