Overview of level bund with double stone walls which have developed into forward slooping terraces, Maybar, Ethiopia (Sabina Erny (Basel, Switzerland))

level bund with double stone walls (Ethiopia)

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Description

level bund with double stone walls with soil and grass to stabilize the structure

Two level rows of stones are piled up and the space between them is filled up with soil. Grass is growing on it so it can stabilize the bund. The soil can accumulate behind the bund. The land and the bunds slowly develop into terraces. It is combined with contour ploughing.

Purpose of the Technology: control runoff and soil erosion

Establishment / maintenance activities and inputs: through food-for-work program. Maintenance is up to the farmers, some maintain it regularly, throughout the year, others don't.

Natural / human environment: on gentle and steep slopes

Location

Location: South Wello, Ethiopia

No. of Technology sites analysed:

Geo-reference of selected sites
  • 39.16, 10.86

Spread of the Technology: evenly spread over an area (approx. 0.1-1 km2)

In a permanently protected area?:

Date of implementation: less than 10 years ago (recently)

Type of introduction
Detailed view of level bund with double stone walls with grass growing on it and which has developed into a terrace, Maybar, Ethiopia (Sabina Erny (Basel, Switzerland))

Classification of the Technology

Main purpose
  • improve production
  • reduce, prevent, restore land degradation
  • conserve ecosystem
  • protect a watershed/ downstream areas – in combination with other Technologies
  • preserve/ improve biodiversity
  • reduce risk of disasters
  • adapt to climate change/ extremes and its impacts
  • mitigate climate change and its impacts
  • create beneficial economic impact
  • create beneficial social impact
Land use

  • Cropland
    • Annual cropping: cereals - barley, cereals - maize, legumes and pulses - beans, wheat, emmer wheat, teff
    Number of growing seasons per year: 2
  • Grazing land
      Animal type: cattle - dairy

    Water supply
    • rainfed
    • mixed rainfed-irrigated
    • full irrigation
    Purpose related to land degradation
    • prevent land degradation
    • reduce land degradation
    • restore/ rehabilitate severely degraded land
    • adapt to land degradation
    • not applicable
    Degradation addressed
    • soil erosion by water - Wt: loss of topsoil/ surface erosion, Wo: offsite degradation effects
    SLM group
    • improved ground/ vegetation cover
    • cross-slope measure
    SLM measures
    • agronomic measures - A3: Soil surface treatment
    • vegetative measures -
    • structural measures - S2: Bunds, banks

    Technical drawing

    Technical specifications
    Drawing showing a level bund with double stone walls, Maybar, Ethiopia

    Location: Maybar. Wello

    Technical knowledge required for field staff / advisors: moderate

    Technical knowledge required for land users: low

    Main technical functions: reduction of slope angle, reduction of slope length

    Secondary technical functions: improvement of soil structure, increase in soil fertility

    Contour tillage
    Remarks: because of the design of the terraces

    If the original slope has changed as a result of the Technology, the slope today is (see figure below): 10.00%

    Construction material (earth): earth from the ditch just behind the structure on the upper side

    Construction material (stone): normal, big stones from the field

    If the original slope has changed as a result of the Technology, the slope today is: 10%

    Lateral gradient along the structure: 0%

    Vegetation is used for stabilisation of structures.
    Author: Sabina Erny, Basel, Switzerland

    Establishment and maintenance: activities, inputs and costs

    Calculation of inputs and costs
    • Costs are calculated:
    • Currency used for cost calculation: birr
    • Exchange rate (to USD): 1 USD = 8.8 birr
    • Average wage cost of hired labour per day: 0.50
    Most important factors affecting the costs
    the slope: the steeper, the more bunds are needed; labour is a problem if there is no food-for-work any more
    Establishment activities
    1. it has grown itself on the bund (Timing/ frequency: None)
    2. measurement of fields, to know where to build the bunds (Timing/ frequency: None)
    3. constructing the stonewalls (Timing/ frequency: December - January)
    4. filling the bunds in between with soils from the ditch behind the structure, on the upper side (Timing/ frequency: December - January, sometimes in November and June)
    Maintenance activities
    1. contour ploughing (Timing/ frequency: dry season and rainseason / several times)
    2. none, cattle are grazing on it (Timing/ frequency: None)
    3. observation (Timing/ frequency: December-January/every year after harvesting)
    4. rebuilding the structure (Timing/ frequency: December-January/every 1-3 years)

    Natural environment

    Average annual rainfall
    • < 250 mm
    • 251-500 mm
    • 501-750 mm
    • 751-1,000 mm
    • 1,001-1,500 mm
    • 1,501-2,000 mm
    • 2,001-3,000 mm
    • 3,001-4,000 mm
    • > 4,000 mm
    Agro-climatic zone
    • humid
    • sub-humid
    • semi-arid
    • arid
    Specifications on climate
    Average annual rainfall in mm: 1067.0
    Moist dega
    Slope
    • flat (0-2%)
    • gentle (3-5%)
    • moderate (6-10%)
    • rolling (11-15%)
    • hilly (16-30%)
    • steep (31-60%)
    • very steep (>60%)
    Landforms
    • plateau/plains
    • ridges
    • mountain slopes
    • hill slopes
    • footslopes
    • valley floors
    Altitude
    • 0-100 m a.s.l.
    • 101-500 m a.s.l.
    • 501-1,000 m a.s.l.
    • 1,001-1,500 m a.s.l.
    • 1,501-2,000 m a.s.l.
    • 2,001-2,500 m a.s.l.
    • 2,501-3,000 m a.s.l.
    • 3,001-4,000 m a.s.l.
    • > 4,000 m a.s.l.
    Technology is applied in
    • convex situations
    • concave situations
    • not relevant
    Soil depth
    • very shallow (0-20 cm)
    • shallow (21-50 cm)
    • moderately deep (51-80 cm)
    • deep (81-120 cm)
    • very deep (> 120 cm)
    Soil texture (topsoil)
    • coarse/ light (sandy)
    • medium (loamy, silty)
    • fine/ heavy (clay)
    Soil texture (> 20 cm below surface)
    • coarse/ light (sandy)
    • medium (loamy, silty)
    • fine/ heavy (clay)
    Topsoil organic matter content
    • high (>3%)
    • medium (1-3%)
    • low (<1%)
    Groundwater table
    • on surface
    • < 5 m
    • 5-50 m
    • > 50 m
    Availability of surface water
    • excess
    • good
    • medium
    • poor/ none
    Water quality (untreated)
    • good drinking water
    • poor drinking water (treatment required)
    • for agricultural use only (irrigation)
    • unusable
    Is salinity a problem?
    • Yes
    • No

    Occurrence of flooding
    • Yes
    • No
    Species diversity
    • high
    • medium
    • low
    Habitat diversity
    • high
    • medium
    • low

    Characteristics of land users applying the Technology

    Market orientation
    • subsistence (self-supply)
    • mixed (subsistence/ commercial)
    • commercial/ market
    Off-farm income
    • less than 10% of all income
    • 10-50% of all income
    • > 50% of all income
    Relative level of wealth
    • very poor
    • poor
    • average
    • rich
    • very rich
    Level of mechanization
    • manual work
    • animal traction
    • mechanized/ motorized
    Sedentary or nomadic
    • Sedentary
    • Semi-nomadic
    • Nomadic
    Individuals or groups
    • individual/ household
    • groups/ community
    • cooperative
    • employee (company, government)
    Gender
    • women
    • men
    Age
    • children
    • youth
    • middle-aged
    • elderly
    Area used per household
    • < 0.5 ha
    • 0.5-1 ha
    • 1-2 ha
    • 2-5 ha
    • 5-15 ha
    • 15-50 ha
    • 50-100 ha
    • 100-500 ha
    • 500-1,000 ha
    • 1,000-10,000 ha
    • > 10,000 ha
    Scale
    • small-scale
    • medium-scale
    • large-scale
    Land ownership
    • state
    • company
    • communal/ village
    • group
    • individual, not titled
    • individual, titled
    Land use rights
    • open access (unorganized)
    • communal (organized)
    • leased
    • individual
    Water use rights
    • open access (unorganized)
    • communal (organized)
    • leased
    • individual
    Access to services and infrastructure

    Impacts

    Socio-economic impacts
    Socio-cultural impacts
    Ecological impacts
    Off-site impacts

    Cost-benefit analysis

    Benefits compared with establishment costs
    Short-term returns
    very negative
    very positive

    Long-term returns
    very negative
    very positive

    Benefits compared with maintenance costs
    Short-term returns
    very negative
    very positive

    Long-term returns
    very negative
    very positive

    Climate change

    -

    Adoption and adaptation

    Percentage of land users in the area who have adopted the Technology
    • single cases/ experimental
    • 1-10%
    • 11-50%
    • > 50%
    Of all those who have adopted the Technology, how many have done so without receiving material incentives?
    • 0-10%
    • 11-50%
    • 51-90%
    • 91-100%
    Number of households and/ or area covered
    200
    Has the Technology been modified recently to adapt to changing conditions?
    • Yes
    • No
    To which changing conditions?
    • climatic change/ extremes
    • changing markets
    • labour availability (e.g. due to migration)

    Conclusions and lessons learnt

    Strengths: land user's view
    Strengths: compiler’s or other key resource person’s view
    Weaknesses/ disadvantages/ risks: land user's viewhow to overcome
    Weaknesses/ disadvantages/ risks: compiler’s or other key resource person’s viewhow to overcome

    References

    Compiler
    • Sabina Erny
    Editors
    Reviewer
    • Fabian Ottiger
    • Alexandra Gavilano
    Date of documentation: May 29, 2011
    Last update: Sept. 10, 2019
    Resource persons
    Full description in the WOCAT database
    Linked SLM data
    Documentation was faciliated by
    Institution Project
    Key references
    • Biological soil conservation techniques for Maybar area, Ethiopia. Kassaye Goshu. 1997.: CDE, Bern
    • Classification of the Environment Conditions. H.-J. Krüger. 2003.: CDE, Bern
    • Area of Maybar, Wello, Ethiopia: Long-term Monitoring of the Agricultural Environment 1981-1994: CDE, Bern
    • The Use, Maintenance and Development of Soil and Water Conservation Measures by Small-Scale Farming Householfs in Different Agro-Climatic Zones of Northern Shewa and Southern Wello, Ethiopia.Yohannes Gebre Michael. 1999.: CDE, Bern
    This work is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareaAlike 4.0 International