Stakeholder linkages for sustainable land management in Dangila woreda, Amhara Region, Ethiopia

Abstract

This paper presents stakeholder types involved in sustainable land management (SLM), their interests and interactions in Dangila woreda (district), Amhara Region, as a case study site. Data were collected from April to June 2011 and in October 2012 from a questionnaire survey of 201 rural households and 19 agricultural experts, through observation, and from formal and informal discussions. Results indicate that landholder and landless farmers, women, development agents (DAs), and Rural Kebele Administration (RKA) offices were major stakeholders involved in SLM activities in the study areas. These stakeholders were found having different interests regarding SLM issues. The linkages of farmers with DAs and RKA offices were observed to be strong but farmers’ participation in new technology selection was found to be low. Farmer interactions with Woreda, Zone and Region level experts were observed to be weak focused on top-down planning and upward reporting. Over 47% of experts interviewed in the woreda agriculture office were assigned to perform duties outside of their expertise profession and nearly 36% of them reported that their working environment was not very good and motivating. Greater than 94% of experts assessed indicated their incentives for work to be low. It is argued that enhancing farmer participation in SLM decisions and establishing good and motivating incentives and working environments could improve stakeholder interactions for SLM in the study areas.

Key words: Stakeholders; farmer-expert linkages; resource management; Ethiopia