Farmers willingness to participate in integrated watershed management practice in North West Ethiopia using logistic...

Ethiopia is among the most at-risk countries due to the depletion of natural resources caused by soil erosion, deforestation, environmental degradation, recurring water shortages, and recurrent droughts. To alleviate such aforementioned problems, a participatory farmers-based approach is highly needed. However, there are no empirical studies that have been conducted on the determinants of farmers' willingness to participate in Integrated Watershed Management practice in Ethiopia. Hence, this study investigated the determinants of farmers' willingness to participate in integrated watershed management practices in Debay Tilat Gin District. The data was analyzed by descriptive statistics, the Universal Soil Loss Equation model, and the Binary logistic regression model. The Universal Soil Loss Equation model was applied to determine the total soil loss and its severity, revealing a value of 37.2 t ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹, indicating a significant level of soil degradation. After assessing the severity of soil erosion, levels of farmers' participation were assessed and found that about 62.5% of farmers were not willing to participate, and the remaining 37.5% were willing to participate in integrated watershed management practices. According to the findings of the binary logistic regression model, slope of farm land, perception of respondents about soil erosion as a problem, participation in training, age, education status, and family size were determining factors for farmers' willingness to participate in integrated watershed management practices. As a result, farmers' motivation should be taken first, rather than forcing and persuading them to participate in integrated watershed management practices by an external agent.