Fjölrit RALA - 05.12.1999, Page 85

Tamirie Hawando
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Population pressure on the land resources
The present population of Ethiopia is estimated at
62 million (Table 6) of which 88% live in the
highlands. The highlands cover 44% of the
country’s land area and display very rugged
geomorphic features, steep slopes with narrow
inter-mountain valleys as common features of
Ethiopian highlands.
The population has grown very fast on the
limited land area in the highlands and every pos-
sible piece of land is put into cultivation to pro-
duce food. Means for relaxing this population
pressure should be considered very seriously
Use of dung and crop residues as energy
Studies in energy sector by World Bank (1984) and Cesen (1986) reported that 99% of
the energy used in Ethiopian homes comes from bio-mass sources which include
dung, crop residues, and woody bio-mass. These studies estimated that out of the 22.5
million tons of cattle manure annually produced, 38% is used as a fuel and out of the
21.2 million tons of crop residues produced annually, 24% is used as a fuel. The re-
maining 76% of crop residue is left on the ground and/or is used by livestock. Other
studies in Ethiopia showed that a total of over 3 million tons equivalent of nitrogen,
potassium and phosphorus are removed by livestock through grazing and crop residue
consumption (NCS 1992, FAO 1984). The amount of nitrogen, phosphorus and potas-
sium in the livestock manure produced annually in Ethiopia is estimated at 1.4 million
tons in terms of N, P205.and K20 (Hawando 1995).
Ox-plough, cereal mono-culture farming system
In the dry sub-humid and semi-arid highlands, the cereal mono-culture is the most
dominant farming system. Crop rotation scheme, inter-cropping, mulching and using
manure on the farm fields are not normally practiced by many farmers. In addition,
dung and crop residues are used as fuel and livestock feed. The farmers plow their
land up and down the slopes thus exposing the soil to rill and gully erosion. The Ti-
gray, Wollo, Semen Shewa, parts of Gonder, Central and South-central Rift-Valley
zones, Arsi and Bale highlands are good examples of cereal mono-culture farming
system. With the exception of Bale and Arsi highlands, the other cereal mono-culture
areas display severely degraded land surfaces
Salinity and alkalinity problems
The semi-arid and arid lowlands and valleys in Ethiopia have major problems of sa-
linity and alkalinity. Recent studies by Hawando (1989, 1995) have revealed that 44
million ha (36% of the country’s total land area) are potentially susceptible to salinity
problems. Out of the 44 million ha, 33 million ha have dominantly salinity problems,
8 million ha have combined salinity and alkalinity problems and 3 million ha have
dominantly alkalinity problems. Out of the 170,000 ha under irrigation by state farms
Table 6. Populatíon estimates and
projections (CSA 1988).
Year Population million Annual growth rate, %
1920 12.9 0.6
1950 19.2 1.7
1970 29.5 2.3
1985 43.3 2.9
1995 60.3 3.3
2000 71.5 3.4
2010 99.6 3.3