Indigenous Stone Bunding (Kab)in Ethiopia

Ethiopia has a long history of indigenous soil and water conservation practices. Among these practices, Indigenous stone bunding (Kab) is the major one that has been widely used by the farmers in different parts of the country. The book presents the results of the study conducted on indigenous stone bunding in central highlands of Ethiopia. The indigenous stone bunds (ISBs) were characterized based on selected design parameters such as spacing, height, width, length, etc. Original ground slope, width and slope position of the inter-terrace area were selected to assess the effect of stone bunding on soil productivity and crop yield. In general, the study indicated that indigenous stone bunding has a positive effect on the productivity of the soil and crop yield. Farmers indicated that cultivation of crops in mountainous areas is very difficult and sometimes even unthinkable without stone bunding and other supportive land management practices. The book highlights the importance of giving due attention to farmers' indigenous knowledge and the need to undertake more research on how to build on and improve such age-old conservation practices in the fight against land degradation.