Assessing the uptake of Sustainable Land Management Towards Food and Tenure Security, South Wollo, Ethiopia

<p>Agricultural land is a scarce resource in Ethiopian highlands. Contrary to this fact, Its sustainability<br>is highly threatened by many intertwined problems. Amongst are Tenure insecurity, land<br>degradation, and food insecurity. These problems are the result of many interdependent<br>environmental, social, institutional and economic factors. Comprising 16 woredas, Beshilo sub basin is found in Amhara regional state of Ethiopia. It is one of the sub-basins of the Blue Nile basin<br>known for high prevalence of land degradation and food insecurity. In the sub-basin, a huge<br>volume of soil, water, and forest resource will be degraded annually, resulting in soil nutrient<br>depletion, poor agricultural productivity and thus food insecurity. Land tenure security is entirely<br>hurdled by poor certification program, and it is now at a preliminary stage. The problems have<br>exposed a large number of people to famine, migration, and destitution. Considering these deep-rooted problems, the Ethiopia government has intervened with the Sustainable Land<br>Management (SLM) project to reduce the negative consequences of the above-mentioned<br>problems. This research intends to study how this intervention has contributed rural households<br>to overcome these problems. The study has four specific objectives oriented towards addressing;<br>i) SWC technologies commonly implemented by farmers ii) contribution of successful land<br>certification to tenure security and agricultural productivity iii) land use and land cover changes<br>that come as a result of the intervention, and iv) food security status of people engaged in SLM<br>activities. It will make use of a case study approach in general and exploratory case study in<br>particular, where a combination of qualitative and quantitative data will be used from both<br>primary and secondary sources. Data will be interpreted and analysed using different statistical,<br>econometrics & ArcGIS software and relevant food security tools, models & measurements. The<br>result of the study provides policy-related information and technically feasible remedies that help<br>to prioritize in overcoming food security, land management, and tenure security problems. More<br>specifically, it will develop common language and currency that should be functional among<br>policymakers, donor organizations, academia and development practitioners in the area of<br>sustainable development.<br>Keywords: Land degradation, tenure insecurity, food insecurity, sustainable land management,<br>Land use land cover, Beshilo sub basin.</p>