Effects of stone terraces on crop yields and farm profitability: results of on-farm research in Tigray, northern Ethiopia

• Published in: Journal of soil and water conservation Vol. 54; no. 3; pp. 568 - 573
• Main Authors: Gebremedhin, B, Swinton, S.M, Tilahun, Y
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ankeny, IA Soil and Water Conservation Society 01.07.1999; Soil & Water Conservation Society
• Subjects: Agriculture; Agronomy. Soil science and plant productions; Beans; Biological and medical sciences; crop production; crop yield; economic analysis; Environmental aspects; erosion control; Ethiopia; Farms, Small; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Prevention; Profitability; Small farms; soil conservation; Soil erosion; Soil erosion, conservation, land management and development; Soil science; stability; Stone; terraces; Terracing; Triticum aestivum; Vicia faba; water erosion; Wheat; Ethiopia; East Africa; Africa; Agricultural development; Monocotyledones; Cultivated field; Soil erosion; Profitability; Cultivated soil; Developing countries; Cereal crop; Soil conservation; Tropical soil; Mountain; Gramineae; Dicotyledones; Angiospermae; Technicoeconomic study; North; Terrace cropping; Vicia faba; Agricultural economics; Grain legume; Regional study; Leguminosae; Spermatophyta; Rock paving; Yield; Investment cost; ON-FARM RESEARCH; Triticum aestivum
• ISSN: 0022-4561; 1941-3300

This study was conducted in Tigray, northern Ethiopia, to determine the yield and farm profitability impact of stone terraces. Seventy terraced and 70 non-conserved plots were equally divided between wheat (Triticum aestivum) and fava beans (Vicia faba). Two quadrates each 8 m 2 (86 ft 2 ) were marked on each terraced plot: one just above the terrace (soil accumulation zone) and another one parallel to this but below the next upper terrace (soil loss zone). Only one quadrate (control zone) was marked on each of the non-conserved plots. Results indicate that (1) grain and straw yields for both crops were significantly higher in the soil accumulation zone than in the soil loss zone or in the non-terraced control plots; (2) grain and straw yields from the soil accumulation zone were more stable than those from control zone; (3) over a 30-yr planning horizon, stone terraces yielded a 50% rate of return, roughly equivalent to reported farmer discount rates in Ethiopia.