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Farmland Management, Tillage and Resulting Cultivation Terraces

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Geo-trekking in Ethiopia’s Tropical Mountains

Part of the book series: GeoGuide ((GEO))

Abstract

All over Dogu’a Tembien, farmlands appear to be terraced, though there is no evidence of large-scale manual or mechanical levelling of the land, not now and not in the past. Like in many cultural landscapes, such so-called progressive terraces are due to the interaction between plot boundaries and tillage but in north Ethiopia, the process is enhanced by soil conservation activities in farmland. The chapter starts with an investigation of the ard plough or mahrasha because this is the tool that does the soil translocation work.

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Further Reading

  • Ciampalini R, Billi P, Ferrari G, Borselli L, Follain S (2012) Soil erosion induced by land use changes as determined by plough marks and field evidence in the Axum area (Ethiopia). Agric. Ecosyst. Environ. 146: 197–208.

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  • Etefa Guyassa, Frankl A, Amanuel Zenebe, Poesen J, Nyssen J (2018) Changes in gully and soil and water conservation structure densities in North Ethiopia over the last 80 years. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 43(9): 1848–1859.

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  • Mouazen AM, Smolders S, Fisseha Meresa, Solomon Gebregziabher, Nyssen J, Verplancke H, Deckers J, Ramon H, De Baerdemaeker J (2007) Improving animal drawn tillage system in Ethiopian highlands. Soil and Tillage Research 95: 218–230.

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  • Nyssen J, Poesen J, Mitiku Haile, Moeyersons J, Deckers J (2000) Tillage erosion on slopes with soil conservation structures in the Ethiopian highlands. Soil & Tillage Research 57(3): 115–127.

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  • Nyssen J, Mitiku Haile, Moeyersons J, Poesen J, Deckers J (2000) Soil and water conservation in Tigray (Northern Ethiopia): the traditional daget technique and its integration with introduced techniques. Land Degradation and Development 11(3): 199–208.

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  • Nyssen J, Poesen J, Desta Gebremichael, Vancampenhout K, D’aes M, Gebremedhin Yihdego, Govers G, Leirs H, Moeyersons J, Naudts J, Nigussie Haregeweyn, Mitiku Haile, Deckers J (2007) Interdisciplinary on-site evaluation of stone bunds to control soil erosion on cropland in Northern Ethiopia. Soil and Tillage Research 94: 151–163.

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  • Nyssen J, Govaerts B, Tesfay Araya, Cornelis WM, Bauer H, Mitiku Haile, Sayre K, Deckers J (2011) The use of the marasha ard plough for conservation agriculture in Northern Ethiopia. Agronomy for Sustainable Development 31(2): 287–297.

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  • Solomon Gebregziabher (2017) A mobile, in-situ testing device to investigate soil-maresha plough interaction. PhD thesis, KULeuven, Belgium.

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  • Solomon Gebregziabher, Mouazen A, Van Brussel H, Ramon H, Nyssen J, Verplancke H, Mintesinot Behailu, Deckers J, De Baerdemaeker J (2006) Animal drawn tillage, the Ethiopian ard plough – Maresha: A Review. Soil and Tillage Research 89: 129–143.

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Correspondence to Jan Nyssen .

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Nyssen, J., Gebregziabher, S., Gebremichael, D., Guyassa, E., Deckers, J., Poesen, J. (2019). Farmland Management, Tillage and Resulting Cultivation Terraces. In: Nyssen, J., Jacob, M., Frankl, A. (eds) Geo-trekking in Ethiopia’s Tropical Mountains. GeoGuide. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04955-3_26

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