Biophysical Factors of Banana Plantation in Southern Ethiopia and its Implication for the Household Economy

 

Abren Gelaw[1] and Daniel Kassahun (Ph.D)[2]

 

Abstract

 

In Ethiopia, banana [Musa acuminata] is overwhelmingly cultivated in the Lante kebele of Arba Minch area, in which the produce is disseminated to major cities of the country, among which Addis Ababa is the main recipient. It was a decade ago that land under subsistent maize production was enormously converted into the commercial cultivation of banana. Such fundamental land use conversion, however, has hardly been examined and therefore poorly understood. Therefore, the prime objectives of the study were to identify major biophysical and economic factors of land use transformation and bring forth pertinent issues for further considerations.

 

Data which include survey of 90 households, key informant interviews, and focused group discussion were employed for the socioeconomic analysis. Moreover, in situ measurement of biophysical data, which include Depth to Mottling and Ground Water Table, were undertaken at 12 representative sites. Total nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium, and pH were determined from the analysis of composite soil samples, following standard soil laboratory procedures. Questionnaire-based data were statistically analyzed by SPSS software. To assess and compare the biophysical suitability of the study area, viz., banana vs. maize cultivation, a “weighting and scoring” technique was developed in a Geographic Information System (GIS) platform, via Arc View software.

 

Results of the study revealed that maize lands have been converting to banana at a rate of 4.76% per annum in the last decade. The conversion was triggered by factors such as recurrent drought, and enhanced pest incidence affecting maize. Contrarily, better opportunities of marketing and profitability accrued from banana plantation were noted. Therefore, the change was a synergic effect of the biophysical, economic, and land management related factors. The analysis has demonstrated that the study area is best suited for the production of banana than maize. Besides, the study ascertained that the decision of farmers to shift from maize to banana has rightly accorded with the scientifically generated land use recommendations. It is, therefore, indispensable to encourage and support farmers to drain waterlogged plots, apply nitrogen fertilizers, and get rid of market bottlenecks for boosting the sustainable production of banana in the study area.

 

1. Introduction

A rapid land use change has been taking place along the Southern Rift Valley area in Gamo Goffa zone. Initially, the form of land transformation was through expansion of cultivation at the expense of natural vegetations. The recent pattern of change exhibited the conversion of the subsistence, cereal crop land for market-oriented fruit cropping.

 

In Ethiopia, most of the research undertaken on land transformation was confined to highland areas (Gete, 1997; Solomon, 1994; Kibrom and Hedlund, 2000; Belay, 2002; Mulunch, 2003). On the other hand, land use and/land cover changes based studies in lowland parts of Ethiopia has been negligible. When it comes to the study of land use transformation, neither the highlands nor the lowlands have been addressed. This is because most cover change studies were addressing the conversion from natural cover into specific land use types. The case in point include Kibrom and Hedlund (2000); Zerihun and Woldu (1998), Gete (1997). Only a few were assessed in relatively specific land use class basis.   

 

A certain land use change may affect the biophysical environment and the livelihoods of households. The adverse effects usually outweigh the virtues of most land transformation in Ethiopia. The environmental impacts of land use changes were fairly treated in many of the studies. However, the effects of land use dynamics on household level were not the focus of most of the studies.    

 

Land use change could occur within subsistence crops, cash crops or between subsistence and cash crops. The subsistence-to-subsistence land use alteration is not unusual phenomenon though few researches have been conducted on this issue. The study of Solomon (1994) showed a land use conversion from cash crop (coffee) cultivation to subsistence (maize) – based production in Illubabor area.

 

In Ethiopia, banana [Musa acuminata] is overwhelmingly cultivated in the Lante kebele of Arba Minch area, which was initially used for the cultivation of maize. Such fundamental land use conversion, however, has hardly been examined and therefore poorly understood. As the area become famous in the production of banana, the produce is disseminated to bigger cities of the country, among which Addis Ababa is the main recipient. Therefore, the prime objectives of the study were to identify major biophysical and economic factors of land use transformation and bring forth pertinent issues for further considerations.

 

2. Research Methodology

2.1. The Study Area

.

Lante Kebele Peasant Association (KPA) is located between 060 07’ 23” and 060 08’44’’ latitude; and 37037’85” and 37040’23” E longitude. It is situated in the Arba Minch Zura Woreda, Gamo Goffa Zone in Southern Region. It is bordered in the east by Lake Abaya. The terrain of the KPA is typical alluvial fan which lies at the foot of Gamo highlands of the western physiographic region. The general elevation of the area ranges from 1174 m to 1300 m a.s.l. It is drained by Basso stream, which finally drains into Lake Abaya.

 

Semi-arid climatic condition characterizes the area. The mean temperature and rainfall of the area are 270c and 760 mm, respectively (WOA, 2005). On the basis of its mean annual temperature and altitudinal range, the climate of the area lies within the traditional kola (tropical) climate category of Ethiopia. Due to rainfall scarcity, vegetation is scanty. It consists of forests, bushes and grasses. Forests are observed along the cost of Lake Abaya. Some patches of trees are also observed along the banks of Basso stream. Community forest, which is composed of eucalyptus trees are found on the North-Eastern part of the KPA.

 

The area is endowed with deep soils (>200 cm). This might be due to the dominance of the plain terrain on which deposition out weighs the detachment and transportation. Large portion of the land covered with dark-brown soils, except for plot situated in proximity to the lake-where the color is largely black. The result of the laboratory analysis for some of the chemical properties revealed that the KPA is dominated by slightly alkaline soils, where the pH ranges from 7.06-8.06. A map (Ethiopian Atlas) showing soil types and their distribution in Ethiopia revealed that Lante area covered with calcaric fluvisols (EMA, 1972).  

 

The population of Lante KPA, based on the 1994 census, was about 6088. Agriculture is the predominant economic activity. About 68.9 % of the rural population carryout largely crop farming and the rest (30.1 %) practice mixed farming (crop farming and livestock rising). The major crops grown in order of importance are banana, mango and maize. Cotton, sweet potato, tomato and lemon are also produced to a lesser extent. In the KPA the average size of land per household is estimated as 1.82 ha. The size of land holding varies from 0.25 to 5 ha per household. There was also disparity in the kind of landholding among households. Of the total sample households, about 85.5 % responded that their land was privately held. The proportion of respondents whose landholding was rented constituted 5.6 %. The land held by the rest of the samples was both private and rented.

 

2.2. Methods

 

The major data required to this study consisted of key physical requirements of maize and banana, the extent (magnitude) of land use change, and the socioeconomic drivers of the change. Most of the data were captured from primary sources. In addition, land use, climate, socioeconomic and demographic data were acquired from secondary sources.

 

During the field survey, soil data were gathered, mainly of two major land qualities: oxygen availability (drainage) and nutrient status. These qualities are important requirements of maize and banana. Description was made for each sample site which includes of depths to mottling and Ground Water Table (GWT), and other land characteristics. Representative soil samples were collected through the use of auger and opening of pits through composite soil sampling technique. To measure the status of nutrient availability, the soil samples were subject to the laboratory test of nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium and pH (Table 1).

 

Table 1 Procedures Employed in the Soil Laboratory Analysis

 

Attribute

 

Unit

Laboratory Procedure

Nitrogen

%

Kjildahl procedure

Phosphorous

Ppm

Olsen’s method

Potassium

me/100 g

Ammonium acetate

pH

   -

Potentiometer

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Questionnaire survey, interview (open ended) and personal observation were the instruments employed to collect data. Through this technique, temporal patterns (magnitudes) of land use change and the driving forces for the change were collected which spans back Emperor Hailesilassie. Information on land use drivers was acquired by comparative assessment by households between the new (banana) and the old (maize) land utilization types.

 

The questionnaire-based data were analyzed statistically via SPSS software. In the GIS analysis, the top sheet (1:50,000) of the study area was scanned and geo referenced. The land was digitized to acquire the base map.  GIS database was developed for six attributes of land: namely, nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium, pH, and depths to mottle and GWT, displayed on Arc View software (version3.2). A continuous surface was derived from the discrete point data at two meter pixel size through the interpolation by Inverse Distance Weight (IDW) technique. Based on the land use requirements set in line with each attribute (table 2) and was classified into one, two, three or four layers of suitability for maize and banana separately. The levels of suitability are “highly suitable (S1),” “moderately suitable (S2),” “marginally suitable” (S3) and “not suitable” (N). Land suitability for maze and banana was analyzed through “weighing and scoring” technique on a GIS platform.

 

Theoretically, land suitability for both land utilization is the faction of temperature regime, moisture, drainage, nutrient status, alkalinity, etc (equestion1). Since the objective of this study is to compare land suitability between the two crops. The impact of temperature and moisture were assumed “negligible”, as slope variation is “insignificant”. In this study, the most important requirements of the two crops are considered in the suitability analysis (equation 2). On the basis of literature, the weight of each attribute is specified (Fig.1)

 

Ø      Theoretically land suitability (maize and banana) = f (Temp, moisture, drainage or oxygen availability, nutrient availability, alkalinity, etc)------- (Eq. 1)

 

Ø      Actual land suitability = f (N, P, K, pH, MD, and GWT)------ (Eq. 2)

 

 

 

3. Results and Discussion

 

3.1 The Extent of Land Use Change

 

Cultivated land is among the broad categories of a land use and /land cover change. Its expansion and /or conversion to and from other categories (e.g. forest, pasture, grass land, etc) is not uncommon in many parts of Ethiopia. However, land use alteration within cultivated lands or change between crop types was an important phenomenon in Lante area, especially in the last two decades. Land use variation by crop types, between the periods of the Imperial and Derge regimes, was not significant. According to household respondents, the land use differentiating these periods (before 1974 and 1974-91) was rice cultivation, which was practiced only in the recent period. In both periods, cultivated land was utilized for annual crop use. The primary objective, with the exception of cotton, was to meet subsistence needs. 

 

No

Crop uses

Before 1974

1974-84 (1)

1995 (2)

2005/6 (3)

Change (%)

HHs No.

%

HHs

No

%

HHs No

%

HHs No

%

1-2

2-3

1

Maize

63

70

71

78.89

44

48.89

22

24.44

-38.03

 50.00

2

Banana

-

-

-

-

73

83.11

90

100.0

+83.11

+23.29

3

Mango

-

-

-

-

23

25.56

41

45.56

+25.56

+78.26

4

Cotton

27

30

44

48.89

  8

  8.89

  2

  2.22

-81.82

  -75.00

5

Potato

27

30

33

36.67

  8

  8.89

  2

  2.22

-75.76

  -75.00

6

Tomato

-

-

-

-

 

   -

  3

  3.33

    -

   +3.33

7

Rice

-

-

11

12.22

   -

   -

  -

-

    -

    -

Table 2. Temporal Aspects of Land Utilization Types in Lante KPA.

 

 

Source: Own survey, 2005/6

 

The second half of the 1980s was the turning point for the emergence of a new land use types in Lante area. About 2.22 % of the respondents witnessed they have begun to grow banana in this period. The year 1985 was the earliest point of time when only about 1.11 % of the households began to domesticate the plant. Ten years later, in 1995, the proportion of households (respondents) who were cultivating banana reached about 81.11 %. The cultivators of mango also grew from nil to 25.56 %. Conversely, maize cultivation got declined by 38.03 % in the same period.

 

The temporal pattern of the change in banana, mango and maize land uses, in the period 1995/6-2005/6, was similar to the experience of the previous one (1984/5-1995). The proportion of sample households cultivating banana and mango has reached 100 and 45.56 %s, respectively by 2006. While banana and mango cultivators grew by 23.29 % and 78.26 %, respectively, maize producers showed net decline by 50 %.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fig. 1 Temporal Changes of Land Uses, Lante KPA

 

Before 1985, neither banana nor mango was cultivated in the KPA. This means that the size of farmland devoted to banana and mango land uses could be said almost nil for the year 1984 or earlier. On the basis of data gathered from the sample households, the size of land currently covered by the fruit crops was estimated to be 953.53 ha. This figure might not be said by far different from the statistical report of the Woreda Office of Agriculture (WOA), which was 989 ha (WOA, 2005). Taking in to account of both data sources, the average size of cultivated land covered by both crops, in 2005/6 was estimated to be 971.27ha. Thus, in two decades (1984/5-2005/6), land, under banana and mango uses, showed net growth by 971.27 ha. The land size under both crops increased, on average, by about 46.25 ha each year for the last twenty-one years. The rate of conversion from other uses (maize, cotton, potato, etc) and, even, covers to banana and /or mango was 4.76% per annum.

 

3.2. Market and Economic Forces

 

Difference in market demand and overall economic importance between the newly emerged (banana) and the declining (maize) land utilization types and transportation are the major ones under this category. 

 

In the study area, the market demand for banana has been stronger than that of maize. About 94.44 % of the respondents suggested the fruit crop gains higher market demand than the produce of the food crop. Temporal variation in price of the fruit is an important feature. In the study area, the price of banana falls as low as 30- 40 cents per kg in times of enormous production, but it raiser up to 80-90 cents per kg in moments of limited supply. The growers testified in confident that, unlike maze, banana offers prodigious earning even in moments the produce is sold at 30-40 cents per kg. In fact, the two crops are incommensurable for one is cash-oriented and the other is more relevant for home consumption. The aforementioned idea is shared by the majority of the peasants in the KPA. This is because, for about 94.44 % of the respondents, the primary objective of the fruit crop produce was targeted to distant markets. The rest (5.56 %) explained that they produce banana for the purpose of both market and home consumption. In the study area, one of the critical issues is the challenge posed on the producers by traders while exchanging the produce. The growers of banana strongly argue that traders commit tomfoolery while weighing the commodity (i.e. the fruit).   

 

In the contrary, it was evidenced that the benefit of maize can not be juxtaposed with that derived from banana. The two crops are similar only for their prices vary in accordance with the change in supply. The demand for maize significantly drops in junctures of bumper production. For instance, four year age, the production of maize for most of the cultivators was convincingly so large. Interviewees confirmed that the produce of the cereal crop was sold at 30-35 birr per quintal at local markets in a particular time of the same year. They went on arguing that maize could not be as profitable as banana even if it is sold in what ever expensive price. Thus, the economic merit of maize has rarely been significant owing to circumstances attributable to market demand and supply. This is because, in Ethiopia, the cultivation of maize is definitely ubiquities; and the production of banana is flawlessly localized. So, the demand for maize from distant markets is unreliable and limited. The influence of market on land use conversion is not unique to Ethiopia. This is because it also played a significant role in the expansion of coffee in south western Ethiopia in the 1960s (Solomon, 1994). That is, in Sore locality, there had been increasing use of land for coffee rather than for food crop production then. This was due to rising demand for export coffee and growing speculation about the profitability of coffee in the future.

 

Though the banana was introduced into the KPA in mid-1980s, expansion of the fruit gained momentum as of the 1991 socioeconomic reforms. Today it is cultivated by almost all of the KPA. The tendency for many of the households is towards specialization slightly less than half of the respondents cultivate banana alone. Farmers under this category state that the economic response of banana plausibly outweighs the benefits derived from maize.

 

The sample households were requested to evaluate the change in their livelihood status following the emergence of the fruit crop (banana), on the basis of selected parameters. The result of the evaluation would be discussed in the following section.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Table 3. Changes in Livelihood of Households, Lante KPA.                                  

No

                         Parameter

                  Change of the Parameter

Grown/ widened

Declined/ Narrowed                       

No change

No. of HHs

%

No. of HHs

%

No of HHs

%

1

House holds asset

87

96.67

  1

1.11

 2

2.22

2

Quality of houses

88

97.78

  -

-

 2

2.22