Competition for land resources: Driving forces and consequences in crop-livestock production systems of the Ethiopian highlands

cg.authorship.typesCGIAR and developing country instituteen
cg.contributor.affiliationAddis Ababa Universityen
cg.contributor.affiliationInternational Livestock Research Instituteen
cg.contributor.affiliationInternational Center for Tropical Agricultureen
cg.contributor.crpLivestock
cg.contributor.donorUnited States Agency for International Developmenten
cg.coverage.countryEthiopia
cg.coverage.iso3166-alpha2ET
cg.coverage.regionAfrica
cg.coverage.regionEastern Africa
cg.coverage.subregionAmhara
cg.creator.identifierWuletawu Abera: 0000-0002-3657-5223en
cg.creator.identifierLulseged Tamene: 0000-0002-4846-2330en
cg.howPublishedFormally Publisheden
cg.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.1186/s13717-018-0143-7en
cg.isijournalISI Journalen
cg.issn2192-1709en
cg.issue1en
cg.journalEcological Processesen
cg.reviewStatusPeer Reviewen
cg.subject.ilriANIMAL FEEDINGen
cg.subject.ilriCROP-LIVESTOCKen
cg.subject.ilriCROPSen
cg.subject.ilriFEEDSen
cg.subject.ilriFODDERen
cg.subject.ilriFORAGESen
cg.subject.ilriLIVESTOCKen
cg.volume7en
dc.contributor.authorMekuria, Wuletawen
dc.contributor.authorMekonnen, Kinduen
dc.contributor.authorThorne, Peter J.en
dc.contributor.authorBezabih, Melkamuen
dc.contributor.authorTamene, Lulseged D.en
dc.contributor.authorAbera, Wuletawuen
dc.date.accessioned2018-09-21T06:49:10Zen
dc.date.available2018-09-21T06:49:10Zen
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10568/97456
dc.titleCompetition for land resources: Driving forces and consequences in crop-livestock production systems of the Ethiopian highlandsen
dcterms.abstractIntroduction: Ethiopia has made efforts to tackle the challenges of low crop and livestock productivity and degradation of land resources through various rural development strategies. However, increasing demands for food, animal feed, fuel, and income-generating activities are putting pressure on the land. In this paper, we describe the production pressure and competition between crop and livestock production, quantify rates of land-use/cover (LULC) changes, and examine driving forces and consequences of land conversion. Methods: The study was conducted in Gudo Beret watershed, North Shewa Zone of Amhara region, Ethiopia. It used a combination of methods including remote sensing, household interviews, field observations, focus group discussions, and key informant interviews. Supervised and unsupervised image classification methods were employed to map LULC classes for 31 years (1984–2016). Results: The results of satellite remote sensing revealed that 51% of the land in the study area was subject to accelerated land conversions. The household survey results indicated that feed resources and grain production pressures were 1.43 and 1.34 t ha−1 respectively. The observed annual changes in plantation and settlement areas were 2.6% and 2.9%. This was mainly at the expense of bushland and grazing land systems. Cropland increased (0.4% year−1) while grazing land reduced (3.5% year−1) under contrasting dynamics and competitive changes. An increase in human and livestock populations and farm expansion were major drivers of land conversion that adversely affected household livelihoods and the natural ecosystem. The consequences of these pressures resulted in a lack of animal feed, low crop-livestock productivity, and a reduction in natural vegetation coverage. Conclusions: We suggest that sustainable land resource management, more integrated crop-livestock production, and the use of productivity-enhancing technologies could play a role in managing competition for land resources.en
dcterms.accessRightsOpen Access
dcterms.audienceScientistsen
dcterms.available2018-09-07en
dcterms.bibliographicCitationMekuria, W., Mekonnen K., Thorne, P., Bezabih, M., Tamene, L. and Abera, W. 2018. Competition for land resources: Driving forces and consequences in crop-livestock production systems of the Ethiopian highlands. Ecological Processes 7:30.en
dcterms.issued2018-12en
dcterms.languageen
dcterms.licenseCC-BY-4.0
dcterms.publisherSpringeren
dcterms.subjectanimal feedingen
dcterms.subjectmixed farmingen
dcterms.subjectforageen
dcterms.subjectintensificationen
dcterms.typeJournal Article

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