Department of Agricultural and Resources Economics

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    Drought and Sustainable Intensification Technologies Adoption in Ethiopia
    (Mekelle University, 2025-01-25) Abrhaley Gebrehiwot
    The agricultural productivity of Ethiopia is highly influenced by rainfall variability. Understanding the relationship between drought and the adoption of multiple Sustainable Intensification Technologies (SITs) is important for informed decision-making. The SITs were well recognized for their important contribution in improving agricultural yield and improving resilience. To achieve the objectives, this study employs two waves of nationally representative data from the Living Standards Measurement Study (LSMS). The socioeconomic data was integrated with the historical monthly rainfall data from 1981 to 2022, obtained from the Climate Hazards Group Infrared Precipitation with Station data (CHIRPS). Using this historical rainfall data, it was constructed various drought indices and presented with multiple model specifications. While the primary focus was to examine the effect of drought on SIT adoption, it was also estimated that models that control for additional covariates identified in the literature as determinants of SIT adoption, using the Multivariate Probit (MVP) model. The findings of the study indicated that exposure to drought during survey year’s decreases the adoption of high-risk SITs, such as inorganic fertilizer, while increasing the adoption of risk-reducing SITs, such as manure and irrigation. Moreover, most of the correlation coefficients among the SITs were positive, indicating that smallholder farmers tend to adopt multiple SITs simultaneously. These results had significant implications for the adoption of SITs particularly under extreme climate conditions like drought
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    Effect of Tigray War (2020-2022) on Soil and Water Conservation activities in Dogua Tenbien and Enderta districts, Northern Ethiopia
    (Mekelle University, 2025-03-18) Abrhaley Redae
    The Tigray War (2020–2022) severely disrupted soil and water conservation (SWC) practices in Tigray (Northern Ethiopia). This study assessed the war's impact on SWC structures activities in Dogua Tenbien and Enderta weredas. Primary data were collected from two contrasting sites in both enclosure and farmland through field observations, physical measurement and unstructured interview. The augmented inverse probability weighting (AIPW) model was employed to compare areas with high-intensity conflict to those less affected. Results show that there was a clear damage in the conflict-intensive areas. In this context, the structural bunds were, on average, 91.37 meters longer, 11.78 meters higher, and 10.28 meters wider in their destruction compared to less-affected regions (p < 0.01). An average of 4.53 more trees were also cut down per 100-m² plot in high-conflict zones (p < 0.05). Field observations highlighted that many SWC structures were dismantled for military purposes, such as trench construction, which directly contributed to erosion and environmental degradation. Furthermore, charcoal harvesting sites averaged 3.6 per location in high-intensity conflict areas, compared to 0.08 per location in lessaffected zones, reflecting increased reliance on forest resources due to disrupted energy supplies. The findings highlights that the war brought devastating ecological impacts in the study area. With this in mind, restoring damaged SWC structures, incentivizing sustainable practices, and launching reforestation and renewable energy initiatives are required to mitigate environmental damages and support agricultural resilience.
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    Effect of war on natural resources management and implication for alternative energy use in the Samre and Tsirae-Wemberta dstrict , Tigray, Ethiopia
    (Mekelle University, 2025-05-17) Alemu Girmay Wuyu
    The Tigray war (November 2020 to march 2022) profoundly disrupted natural resource management (NRM) practices and alternative energy use in Samre and Tsirae-Wemberta Weredas, Tigray, Ethiopia. This study investigated the war’s impact on NRM, governance bylaws, and the potential of alternative energy use, particularly solar cookers and lighting, to minimize resource damage and cope with energy resource shortage. Using a mixed-methods approach, data were collected from 251 households through surveys, focus group discussions, key informant interviews, and observations in Adgba (Samre) and Hayelom (Tsirae-Wemberta) kebeles. Findings reveal widespread damage to soil and water conservation structures (e.g., 80.9% reported stone bund destruction) and biological conservation, with firewood collection doubling (2.19 to 4.86 donkey loads annually) and grazing in ex-closure areas surging fourfold (39 to 155.69 days/year) during the war. NRM bylaws collapsed, with 65.5% (Samre) and 61.5% (Tsirae-Wemberta) of respondents noting severe disruption, leaving only 24% and 16% perceiving active bylaws post-war. Despite 98.4% familiarity with solar energy, reliance on traditional fuels persisted (wood: 3.39 to 3.98 donkey loads/month; charcoal: 1.31 to 1.75 during the war), driven by cost, access barriers, and disrupted supply chains. The study underscores the need for rehabilitate NRM infrastructure, restore governance, and promote solar technology through support and aid, training, and pilot programs to mitigate environmental degradation and support post-conflict recovery. These findings inform policies for sustainable resource management and energy transitions in war-affected regions.
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    Food Insecurity in the Drought-prone Rural Areas of Tigray, Ethiopia: Associated Precipitation Variability and Response Mechanisms
    (Mekelle University, 2025-03-21) Tewelde Gebre Berhe
    Tigray is one of the food-insecure regions in Ethiopia with many people living under the condition of chronic hunger. Rigorous food security studies are vital for proper intervention mechanisms. Yet, previous food security studies have rarely addressed the four pillars of food security: availability, access, utilization, and stability. On the other hand, the impact of precipitation variability on food security is very significant. For food-insecure rural areas, understanding the nature of precipitation variability and its teleconnection has paramount importance in guiding regional and local-level decisions. However, there is a lack of information regarding the nature of precipitation variability and the degree of impact the climate factors have on the precipitation pattern of the study areas. In addition, there is limited knowledge regarding how vulnerable rural households deal with food insecurity. Furthermore, food security intervention mechanisms applied by various governmental and non-governmental agents is not studied well. Thus, this study aims to investigate the food insecurity status of the drought-prone rural areas of Tigray in relation to the associated precipitation variability, coping, adaptation, and intervention mechanisms. This study has employed a cross-sectional study design based on a mixed research approach with primary and secondary data. For this, 363 households from three selected drought-prone rural districts, i.e. Atsbi-wenberta, Irob, and Hintalo-wejerat were studied. Primary data were collected using questionnaires, key-informant interviews, Focus Group Discussions, and observations. And, secondary data were collected from relevant archives and policy documents. Questions from Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS) and Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES) were adapted to measure the food availability, access to food, and stability components of food security. And, Household Dietary Diversity Score (HDDS), Food Consumption Score (FCS), MidUpper Arm Circumference (MUAC), and Bitot’s spot were used to analyze the food utilization aspect. Besides, the precipitation, sea-surface temperature (SST), and El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) indices data for the study were used from 1979 to 2019. A Summary of descriptive statistics and Mann-Kendall tests were used to detect trends; Sen’s Slope and coefficient of variation were used to analyze the magnitude of the trend and degree of variation in the precipitation pattern. Further, Pearson’s correlation is used to determine the effect of ENSO, and SST variations on the precipitation using the Canonical Correlation Analysis (CCA). Data analysis techniques consisting of descriptive statistics, Coping Strategies Index (CSI), and Paired Comparative Analysis (PCA) were used to analyze the household’s coping and adaptation strategies. Data regarding food security intervention mechanisms were analyzed content-wise. Findings show that 68 percent of the studied community frequently ate less food than they felt they needed and 82.1 percent of the households have experienced hunger because of lack of food. The study showed that rural districts were poorly connected to the road networks; 87.9 percent of the elderly and 20.4 percent of the women and girls had no access to food markets. Regarding food utilization, 81.5 percent of the studied households had poor FCS; the average HDDS and FCS for the study areas were 2.47 and 18.9, respectively. In the study areas, the prevalence of Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM), Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM), and Moderate Acute Malnutrition (MAM) for children aged 6-59 months were 50.3, 4.2, and 46.1 percent, respectively. More notably, the prevalence of SAM for children from the food-insecure households was 21.2 percent. The prevalence of MAM for pregnant and lactating women (PLW) in the study areas was 59.5. Further, the prevalence of Bitot’s spot among 6-59 months of age children was 1.9 percent. On the other hand, all the rural households had anxiety about their future food demands. Meanwhile, the average annual precipitation for Atsbi, Irob and Hintalo was 542.5, 318, and 520.7, respectively.xii Hintalo’s average precipitation for March-May was declining by 16.3mm per annum (P<0.01) and its average annual precipitation was declining by 4.1mm per annum (P<0.05). The SST of central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean and northeast and northwest equatorial Atlantic Ocean was strongly correlated with the April average precipitation of the three districts. In addition, SST of the South, West, and southwest of the equatorial Indian Ocean, and West equatorial Pacific Ocean was associated with July-September average precipitation with greater variation in strength among the three districts. Moreover, July’s average precipitation of the three districts, April’s average precipitation of Atsbi and Irob, and May’s precipitation of Hintalo are found significantly associated with the ENSO indices of JFM and FMA (P<0.01); MJJ and MAM (P<0.05). Regarding the coping strategies, 74.4, 74.1, and 73.8 percent of the studied households were frequently limiting the portion of household’s meal size, depending on aid, and consuming less quality and cheap food, respectively to cope with food insecurity. About 70 percent of the food-insecure rural households were relying on the most severe coping strategies. The average CSI score was 148.5 out of 301 with the highest result of 268 implying severe food insecurity status. Further, 77.1 and 69.5 percent of the studied households have never practiced the adaptation strategies of preparing alternative wetting and rainwater harvesting, respectively. Livestock production, cultivating drought-tolerant crops, and shorter-duration crops were the first three prioritized adaptation strategies of the households. There were several international interventions intended to halt food insecurity sustainably through financial aid, but many of the interventions were found to be responding to humanitarian crises mainly the food shortages. Ethiopia’s Food and Nutrition Policy, Food Security Program, Food Security Strategy, and Food Security Pack program were the food security intervention mechanisms at the national level. These interventions were found to be inconsistent with each other in achieving their intended goals. Regionally, no food security strategy or program was found intervening in the prevailing food insecurity of Tigray. More notably, apart from the PSNP office, no specific food security office was found in Tigray during the study period. Food aid and PSNP transfers have been the usual food security intervention mechanisms at a community level. 35.6 percent (77,010) of the population in the study rural districts were found to be rural PSNP beneficiaries. The food aid and PSNP transfers were outrageously insufficient for the recipients to cope with food insecurity. The rural households living in the studied areas were found to be critically food-insecure. All the measurements implied that the food insecurity situation was unacceptably worrisome and lifethreatening. This calls for an instant action to avert the occurrence of famine and starvation in the drought-prone rural areas of Tigray region. Thus, interventions should primarily target the vulnerable rural people and need to be planned based on attaining food availability first rather than concurrently addressing all components of food security. The limited amount of precipitation, exacerbated by a higher degree of variability, makes the food production in the three districts more uncertain. Therefore, the task of achieving food security should incorporate the design of informed food production strategies that can adapt to the limited and variable precipitation based on these SST and ENSO indices. Most of the food-insecure households were using severe coping strategies, and the mostly applied adaptation strategies were barely recommended to deal with the varying and short precipitations. Therefore, relevant organizations should focus on enhancing these households’ coping and adaptive capacities to deal with the problems. In this regard, all the food security intervention mechanisms of various levels should be integrated into the common goal of achieving food security
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    Impact of War on Physical Soil and Water Conservation Structures, Vegetation Cover, and Community Livelihoods in Raya Azebo District, Tigray, Ethiopia
    (Mekelle University, 2024-11-21) Atakilti Eyasu
    Decades of human pressure on agricultural lands have led to significant environmental degradation, particularly in the Tigray region, where erosion has resulted in an annual loss of 1.5 billion tons of soil. Despite efforts in soil and water conservation (SWC) and landscape rehabilitated, the conflict in Tigray has exacerbated environmental damage, affecting forest cover and conservation structures. This study evaluates the impact of war on soil and water conservation (SWC) structures and vegetation cover in the Raya Azebo district, Southern Tigray, Ethiopia. Data were collected from two conflict-affected kebeles, Hawelti and Ebo, through household surveys, key informant interviews (KIIs), focus group discussions (FGDs), field observations, and satellite imagery. The study employed satellite data from Landsat 7, 8, and 9 to assess vegetation cover changes between 2000, 2020 and 2022 using the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI). 267 households were selected through random sampling method, four focus group discussion purposively selected and five key informant interviews were conducted, and the data were analyzed using SPSS version 20 and ArcGIS 10.8.1. The study shows that male is dominance in land management, and agriculture as the primary livelihood. War has exacerbated socio-economic vulnerabilities, limiting the adoption of sustainable practices. The findings underscore the urgent need for post-conflict rehabilitation to restore SWC structures, promote sustainable land management and improve agricultural productivity. The results show significant war-induced damage to SWC structures, with 46.9% of systems in Ebo and 53.2% in Hawelti partially or fully destroyed. This led to increased soil erosion, reduced agricultural productivity, and heightened food insecurity. Vegetation cover analysis from revealed improvements in Ebo exhibited improvement until 2020, but faced post-war setbacks, while Hawelti showed pre-war progress and post-war challenges. These results stress the need for customized management strategies. Ebo's NDVI values ranged from -0.3 to 0.33 in 2000, peaking at 0.50 in 2020, but dropping to 0.484 in 2022 due to wartime activities. Similarly, EVI rose from 0.387 in 2000 to 0.432 in 2020, declining slightly to 0.412 in 2022
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    The Extent of contribution by Urban and Peri-urban Agriculture on Employment creation and Income generation in Mekelle Hadnet Sub-city, Tigray region, Ethiopia
    (Mekelle University, 2025-06-12) Berhanu Meressa Berhe
    Urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) involves the production of food and non-food items within or near urban areas for household consumption or market sale. In developing countries, rapid urbanization and rural-urban migration intensify unemployment and income scarcity. This study explores the socio-economic characteristics, determining factors, and impacts of UPA on income generation and employment in Mekelle Hadnet sub-city, Tigray region, Ethiopia. Using a multistage sampling technique, data were collected from 305 urban and peri-urban farmers through survey questionnaires, focus group discussions and personal observation during the year 2024. Descriptive statistics and econometric models were employed for analysis. A multinomial logit model (MNL) identified key determinants of participation in UPA, while logit regression estimated propensity scores. A propensity score matching (PSM) model evaluated the impact of UPA on employment and income. Descriptive statistics showed significant differences between higher-participant and lower-participant households. The MNL model identified factors such as age, family size, farm distance, animal feed use, employment status, farm income, costs, and experience as significant in influencing participation. Logit regression further highlighted the significance of age, use of agricultural inputs, and livestock holdings. PSM results demonstrated that participation in UPA positively impacted farm income and employment at a 5% significance level. The average treatment effect on the treated (ATT) was an income increase of Birr 13,103 and one additional employed person compared to untreated groups. The findings suggest that UPA contributes significantly to reducing unemployment and increasing income in urban settings. Therefore, coordinated efforts by local administration, municipal authorities, researchers, and policymakers are essential to support and enhance UPA practices.
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    The Role of Traditional Flood-based Farming on Household Income and Water Management in Raya Azebo Woreda District, Southern Tigray, Ethiopia
    (Mekelle University, 2025-02-17) Abeba Berwo Baraki
    Traditional flood-based farming is an important agricultural activity in Raya Azebo woreda, southern Tigray, Ethiopia. Many farming households at Tsigea and Genetie tabias, located in the downstream of Guguf catchment, rely on agriculture for their livelihood. The need, therefore, arises to assess flood farming and its water management aspects, its contribution to household income and livelihoods as well as the factors that influence it. Hence, this study investigates the role of traditional flood-based farming on household income and water management in Raya Azebo. The study objectives were to assess water use and management, household income and implications to livelihoods, and the socio-economic factors that influence flood-based farming. Data were collected from a survey of 362 households proportionately and randomly selected from Tsigea and Genetie tabias. Key informant interviews, focus group discussions, document analysis and direct observations were also used to provide additional data and information on conditions in the study area. The research work examines water management, yield, income, community participation, food consumption status of households and factors impacting flood-based farming practices. Descriptive statistics and content analysis of qualitative interviews were used for data analysis. The main results indicate that for 78.7% of flood farming households water scarcity was a challenge; sorghum yield by users was significantly higher than non-users (34.7 against 16.4 quintals per hectare, p < 0.01); 72.1% reported high community participation on O&M; water use was found to be 51.5% of the available water; users got significantly higher crop income compared to non-users (ETB 184,147 against ETB 90,719 per hectare for sorghum, p<0.01); food consumption was significantly higher for households practicing flood farming than non-users (37.1 against 23.7, p <0.01), suggesting improved food security. On influencing factors for flood-farming practices, cost effectiveness and easiness to manage are positive influencers while scarcity of flood water, over-flooding of water, erosion of top soil, and salinity negatively influenced sorghum yield. The study emphasizes the need for improved water management and infrastructure support to ensure sustainability of floodbased farming, underscoring its crucial role in improving income and livelihoods in the region.