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| Construction of Trenches and Checkdams and Their Role in Soil-Water Conservation in Rubaya Sub County in Kabale District, South Western Uganda.
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Friday Christopher
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Abstract:
The study was about the construction of trenches and check dams and their role in soil and water conservation and was guided by the following objectives; To examine the number of trenches and checkdams that were dug and to determine the farmers adoption rate of Natural Resource Management Practices. The study employed a cross sectional descriptive design that employed both qualitative and quantitative approaches. The quantitative approach was used to quantify incidences in order to describe current conditions while qualitative approach was used to explain the events and describe findings using interviews and documentary review and used a target population of 100 respondents from the two selected villages comprising of household heads and project representatives and used a sample of 80 respondents out of the study population. The interview guides and questionnaires were also used. Data analysis involved editing, coding, classifying and tabulating the collected data. The researcher employed both qualitative and quantitative data analysis techniques. Qualitative data, particularly responses from interviews was analyzed following the content analysis. The analysis of the quantitative data was done using descriptive statistics that is frequencies and percentages. Descriptive statistics such as frequencies and percentages were used to show the weight of the responses. Data was recorded manually, editing, coding and tabulation was done, tables were drawn using Microsoft excel program of a computer. Findings indicated that in the month of February 2021, I7 trenches and 19 check dams were dug and previously 360 trenches had been dug and check dams were 282.Kagasha and Kashenyi villages were leading with more trenches and check dams followed by Karengyere, Nduhura and Musamba was the least. Kashenyi and Kagasha were leading because they first had the training and they had the early adoption rates. In addition, the women and youth were actively involved in natural resource management activities. These trenches that had been dug were seen to conserve the fertility of the soils as well as maintaining water in the soils. The farmers were digging trenches and check dams through their farmer groups. 91 males,62females,12 youth and 0Batwa participated in natural resource management activities. In Karengyere village,14 males,9 females,4 youth and 00 Batwa participated. Musamba had 16 males,10 females,2 Youth and 00 Batwa, Ndarura had 18 males,16 females,1 youth, in Kashenyi village 30 males participated followed by 16 females and 2 youth and in Kagasha,13 males participated ,11 females and 3 youth. Generally, the males participated more in the digging of trenches and check dams than their female counterparts due to their gender roles. Women do more of agriculture, looking at children than their male counterparts. There was no Batwa that participated in the activities due to being the minority indigenous group and still the few Batwa that lived in the area were just temporally. A total of 140 males, 85 females, 32 youth, 03 PWDS and 00 Batwa have adopted NRM activities in Kabale district. There is still low adoption rate among the youth and the people with disabilities and yet the country lies in the hands of the youth. The low adoption rate is due to lack of ownership rights for example to land. Farmers have been adopting the practices through their farmer field schools with demonstration sites. Still Kashenyi and Kagasha villages indicate a higher adoption rate among the men and this relates to the total trenches and check dams dug due to this adoption. The study concluded that in areas where more men participated in the digging of trenches and check dams, there were more that had been dug. Also, the men were more actively involved than their female counterparts. Rights of ownership of land determined a lot in the participation as men had more powers to make decisions. More trenches were dug than the check dams because of the fatigue associated with digging the dams in stony areas. The Youth had a low adoption rate yet the future of this country lies in their hands. The women and Youth should be actively engaged in the activities of natural resource management since they are closer to the environment. More public sensitization should be done to make the dwellers much more informed of how they will benefit from the practices. Agriculture extension services should be extended to the farmers and through this they will learn how to conserve their soils and water. Government support inform of finance for the village saving and loans associations and tools to dig trenches and check dams is required.
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