Farmers' perceptions on soil and water conservation Farming in dry land management in Magway township, dry Zone of Myanmar. | |
| Author | Lucas Cin Than Kham |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no.NR-02-05 |
| Subject(s) | Soil conservation Myanmar Water conservation Myanmar |
| Note | A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Abstract | Low and irregular rainfall, high temperature, fragile soil type (sandy but has a tendency of crust formation) of the Dry zone causes poor vegetation cover is further compounded by high population accelerated natural resources degradation. The renewable natural resources of the Dry zone are being depleted more rapidly than nature can renew them. Food Security in Dry zone has been threatened by land degradation and natural resource depletion. Land degradation on the farmlands of project area in Magway Township, the study area, is more serious than that of in traditional conservation farming area due to absence of integration of proper conservation measures with the traditional conservation cultural practices. Farmers' awareness on erosion and environment degradation has been increasing due to recurrent droughts that has resulted in total crop lost during current decades. Food security project of F AO, has initiated participatory soil and water conservation based rural development programme since 1996. Soil conservation in the project area are meant to protect and conserve existing cultivated fields and make the best use of available rainfall in order to ensure and /or increase crop yield, relying on the fact that the amount of nutrients loss by surface runoff and moisture stress are the main limiting factors in crop production. Sustainability of the integrated soil and water conservation initiated by the project depends on level of farmers' awareness (knowledge), attitude and effectiveness (benefits gained by the beneficiaries) of soil and water conservation measures on their livelihood. "How difference in the levels of understanding and perception of farmers on the soil and water conservation measures and their impacts between project area and traditional conservation area" are not known. The study applied comparative study of the historical and socio economic profiles of the study areas, the changes of natural resources with time and their responses to that as the end result of practicing soil and water conservation (introduced or traditional). It is a systemic and in-depth study of the project's effectiveness on social aspects (change of farmers' perception related to the adoption of soil and water conservation, awareness and knowledge of soil erosion and its effect, perceived effectiveness on grain yield and income increase due to integrated soil and water conservation activities) and study of the sustainability of SWC by using semi-structured questionnaire survey, group meeting and field observation. The data are analyzed by using Chi-square test, cross tabs, t-test for equality test of means using SPSS software. It was found that the motivation of practicing soil and water conservation in traditional conservation farming area was stimulated by; 1) The need to ensure food security governing the household's decision to invest in SWC, 2) Farmers' trust in the benefit gained out of the conservation through the experience of other farmers who have applied SWC techniques (as a result they have been able to double their harvests) thus safeguarding their families against famine and reducing the gap period between harvests and more income earned by growing cash crops, 3) Farmers' attachment to his farm (family's dependency on the farm for their family livelihood) is an important influencing factor, 4) Knowledge of the problem, especially the growing awareness of degradation as a problem to be resolved, as well as the management of means of combating it, and 5) Farmers' affordability (low cost and easy to do and replicate). The findings in particular from project area revealed that the integrated interventions of soil and water conservation targeted at raising awareness among farmers of the degradation of the environment as well as training and support for farmers in the application of SWC techniques and the protection of the environment were very effective. It is because the levels of farmers' Knowledge, Attitude and Practice (Adoption) and maintenance are almost the same between project area and traditional conservation farming area. Since farmers in the traditional conservation farming area are living and cultivating for many years (say over 80 years) through many failures and successes (trials) to attain these level without external institutional support, while farmers in the project area could reach the same level within a few (three) years through the projects' participatory integrated soil and water conservation planning, implementation and monitoring approaches and strategies. The findings have shown that the biophysical impact (perceived increase in biodiversity) and socio economic impact (crop yield increase as a result income increase of farm household) of soil and water conservation are obvious in its viability being socially, economically and environmentally sustainable. Soil and water conservation should be regarded and ascertained an important component of farming system development and of regional development plan. It is now clear that the conservative "top down" approach of extension system should be replaced with "bottom up or participatory approach''. Due to the difficulty in the context of technical skill and financial hardship of the country, it is important to invite the cooperation of INGOs and encourage the role of local NGOs' by creating favorable working environment and modifying some of agricultural extension policies in order to build the capacity of the staffs of (local NGOs and GOs) and the local communities through working together hand in hand, since this kind of skill can not be attained by reading and theoretical training only. |
| Year | 2002 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | School of Environment, Resources, and Development (SERD) |
| Department | Department of Development and Sustainability (DDS) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Natural Resources Management (NRM) |
| Chairperson(s) | Apisit Eiumnoh |
| Examination Committee(s) | Zoebisch, M.A.;Shivakoti, G.P. |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | Katholischer Akademischer Auslander-Dienst (KAAD) |
| Degree | Thesis (M. Sc.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2002 |