Is Land Fragmentation Facilitating or Obstructing Adoption of Climate Adaptation Measures in Ethiopia?

Tesfaye C. Cholo, Luuk Fleskens, Diana Sietz and Jack Peerlings
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Tesfaye C. Cholo: Soil Physics and Land Management Group, Wageningen University and Research, 6708 PB Wageningen, The Netherlands
Luuk Fleskens: Soil Physics and Land Management Group, Wageningen University and Research, 6708 PB Wageningen, The Netherlands
Diana Sietz: Soil Physics and Land Management Group, Wageningen University and Research, 6708 PB Wageningen, The Netherlands
Jack Peerlings: Agricultural Economics and Rural Policy Group, Wageningen University and Research, 6706 KN Wageningen, The Netherlands

Sustainability, 2018, vol. 10, issue 7, 1-14

Abstract: Land fragmentation is high and increasing in the Gamo Highlands of southwest Ethiopia. We postulate that this substantial land fragmentation is obstructing the adoption of sustainable land management practices as climate adaptation measures. To explore this, a mixed method study was conducted with emphasis on a multivariate probit model. The results indicate that farmers adapt to climate change and variability they perceive. According to the probit model, there is no clear answer to the question whether land fragmentation facilitates or obstructs adoption of sustainable land management practices. Yet, a qualitative analysis found that farmers perceive land fragmentation as an obstacle to land improvement as adaptation strategy. Moreover, farmers invest more in land improvement on plots close to their homestead than in remote plots. However, the higher land fragmentation also promoted crop diversification, manure application and terracing. Although exogenous to farmers, we therefore suggest that land fragmentation can be deployed in climate change adaptation planning. This can be done through voluntary assembling of small neighboring plots in clusters of different microclimates to encourage investment in remote fields and to collectively optimize the benefits of fragmentation to adaptation.

Keywords: land fragmentation; sustainable land management; adaptation; Gamo Highlands (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:7:p:2120-:d:153708

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