MEKELLE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF DRYLAND AGRICULTURE AND NATURAL
RESOURCES
DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES ECONOMICS AND
MANAGEMENT
AGRO ECOLOGY AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Individual assignment to project options in Tabia
Areasegeda Research Methodology and Participatory
Approaches to Development
(AESD 632)
Topic: problem identification and project options in Tabia
Areasegeda
By Teamti teklebrhan
Submitted to: ZENEBE ABRAHA
September t2013
Area description of areasegeda
The project options were conducted in adigudem Tabia Are-asegeda by interviewing the
community. It is located at 13°14′50"N and 39°-53°E with an elevation of 2100 m.a.s.l. (IFPRI,
2006). It is found around 32 km a long side the main high way from Mekelle to Addis Ababa.
This region has a cool tropical semiarid climate with mean annual temperature of around 18°C.
The areas are affected by high wind velocity. The mean annual rainfall is about 650 mm and
varies considerably between years and is characterized by unpredictable drought (Corbeels et al.,
2000). The soil type of this area is clay, sand and loam. The structure of the area in terms of
population and land availability is described in the following table 1.
Table 1: Structure of the area
Cultivable land Irrigated land Total Household
Total area (ha)
area (ha) area (ha) population leaders
8890 2667 303 11,670 2489
Source: Adigudom in Tigray Regional State/ Development Agent/ September 2013
Following this information the following questions were interviewed to the community
Questioner for the community
I General farming systems of the Tabia
1. What type of crops are growing in this area
Type of crops Production of crops qt/ha
2. How often do you harvest products per year
3. What are the soil amendment practices?
4. Is there agro-forestry practices?
5. If your answer in question no 4 is yes, what are those?
A, Home garden b, alley cropping, c, relay cropping
6. How much is the current market price?
7. How much is the total amount of income generated annually?
8. What do you think should be done to maximize production?
9. How many livestock do you have?
Type number Market price
10. From where do you get for animal feed?
11. What is the grazing system?
12. From where do you get fuel?
II. About infrastructures
1. Is there enough roads /or accesses of transport
2. How many health centers do you have?
3. How about the schools (elementary, secondary)
Mapping description of the area
From this information I am identified some important things and problems from the Tabia
Problems Priorities
Water scarcity 1
Food shortage 3
Awareness problem 4
Free grazing 5
Fuel shortage 2
The priority I give no 1 is the first problem in the village and no 5 is the last problem
Based on these problems I was select two project options that can give a solution for the
problems.
The projects are: 1. Irrigation
2. Biogas
Those projects can solve the problems and improve the community’s social, economic,
and environmental benefits
Economic importance of irrigation and biogas to the village: irrigation practices helps
to get products at least two times per a year depending on the type of the crop. That
can increases productivities of different crops (vegetables, fruits, and cereals) ,legume
production for animal feed and improve agro-forestry production. Regards to the biogas
peoples can use fuel by less cost from their animal dang and the slurry also improve soil
fertility then this can improve production. In general the overall productivities of the
community can be increased by those projects
The environmental benefits: irrigation practices improve the growing of forests trees,
grass, and other perennial and annual plants; those plants serve as a home of other
animals. That can improve biodiversity and those plants also can stabilize the
microclimate condition. And the slurry can improve the soil biological activities
Social benefits of the projects: when installed those projects the Tabia administrators
will give them training about those projects, so they becoming aware how they benefit
from it, how fairly share their resources and as increasing productivity their self
confidence also increasing. This helps to strengthen the social relationship between the
community, and b/n the community and the administrators.